Getting Out

"Getting Out" by Cleopatra Mathis is a deep and eventful poem about an unhealthy loving relationship. The whole poem is like an oxymoron the two love each other but the relationship is brutal. It just doesn't work for them to be together, but neither of them can let go. "Every night another refusal, the silent work of tightening of the heart," (Mathis 896) shows how the nights were exhausting and they compared it to a jail. That simile proves the relationship to be impacting both characters negatively. However, in the end, the two were cordial- not only that but even loving. Looking back on everything, they knew what they had to do to be able to start over their lives. Now one lives a happy life, and the other still lives in the memories of them. She wants to remember their relationship as it ended, but there was much more than that. Not all relationships of love work; some leave scars bigger than others.