Getting Out

"We held on tight, and let go."
"Getting Out"
Cleopatra Mathis


This seems to be the typical "learning how to let go of my significant other" type of poem. The two appeared to have their differences--there is something wrong when you compare waking up next to one another to being in a prison. ("waking like inmates who beat the walls") The whole poem shows the scenes leading up to the final break. There were the little things, "Every night another refusal," that led to bigger things, the "Days were different," and they most likely realized they weren't meant for each other. They started to pack up and blame one another for the problems they were experiencing. As with basically any break-up, someone may have a hard time letting go. The speaker has mixed feelings toward the experience. On one hand, they are free of one another, yet she mentions how she "cried, the last day" and how she has the "last unshredded pictures of our matching eyes and hair." I think she may regret the separation, because she talks about how they both seemed to have a very hard time accepting they weren't meant for each other. They spent weeks mulling over the facts, and even when it came time to accept their fate at the court, they had a hard time doing so. But sometimes, you just have to let go.