Getting Out

"Taking hands, we walked apart, until our arms stretched between us. We held on tight, and let go."


Begging with the simile "that year we hardly slept, waking like inmates", the poem immediately establishes the relationship of the couple. I think the inmates is referring to inmates of a mental hospital because of it describes them as those "who beat the walls" and the poem gives off a feeling of confinement. I think the author's tone at first is bitter. She is describing how annoyed the two were at each other with "we gave up" and "you tried to pack up and go". I think the speaker is blaming both of them for messing up the marriage. The last line of the second stanza states, "Finally locked into blame, we paced that short hall, heaving words like furniture." They both knew that their marriage wasn't working out and the simile "heaving words like furniture" gives off a sense that the couple was starting to develop a strong dislike for each other. The tone then shifts to a more distressed tone. The line "I'm startled by mean who look like you" means to me that the speaker is sad about the breakup and still gets anxious when she sees men who look like her ex-husband. The last line of the poem which is written above kind of summarizes the whole poem to me. It seems that the couple was naive and not emotionally mature enough for a serious relationship. When they were with each other, they were unhappy and annoyed at their confinement. However, once they gave up on their relationship, they couldn't seem to let go.