Probably the best part of this poem is the fact that the poet's name is freakin' CLEOPATRA!
The tone of this piece is surprising for a poem about divorce. It does not blame one person for the divorce (uses the pronoun "we" for the majority of subjects of sentences), nor does it take a frustrated or bitter tone. Rather, the couple is almost remorseful they have to be divorced ("Yet I think of the lawyer's bewilderment/when we cried, the last day."). In addition, it takes a nostalgic tone in the second stanza with such notables phrases as "Days were different:" and "'you gonna miss me/when I'm gone.'" The second stanza also reveals one of them tried to leave but just couldn't bring themselves to be away very long. Yet, what's interesting is that the poem's title and other phrases in it ("waking like inmates who beat the walls") suggests they are trapped in their love. Oh what horror.
Oh yes folks, this is Cleopatra Mathis. I want her hair, girlfran.
You could bleach your wig!
ReplyDeleteI have interesting theories about this poem. I think they are wrong, but they are intriguing nonetheless.