"Getting Out" Cleopatra Mathis

For me, this poem is relatable, because I feel like it is talking about two people that care about each other a lot and want things to work out, but they just never do. I have been in a relationship like that, and it's terrible. The first line speaks of "waking like inmates," which makes one wonder whether the speaker is referring to inmates in a jail or inmates in a mental hospital. But the next line says, "who beat the walls." This sort of clears it up somewhat, because when I think of someone beating on the walls, I think more of a mental institution than a jail. Throughout the poem, she speaks of how the two are somewhat trapped in this relationship. The second stanza tells of how the husband "tried to pack up and go," but by using the word try it shows that this person was unable to successfully leave. I think this shows that they were both in it, and he couldn't make himself leave. Finally in the the last stanza, she speaks of the "last unshredded pictures/ of our matching eyes and hair." I always think that when couples are together for a long time, they begin to look alike, and that's what I thought of, but talking in class, you said that it could symbolize immaturity. I don't really know what to think about that. Beside from that, she says that she is still startled when she sees men who look like him and that he writes her every year still, so obviously they're still holding on. The very end talks about the day in court where they finally got divorced. It says that the lawyer was shocked when they cried, and they held hands tightly until their arms couldn't stretch any further, then let go. This gives the poem a regretful tone. You can see the apparent love between them. It's really a sad poem.