A Broken Relationship

“The Albatross” 

“The Albatross” by Kate Bass is poem about a broken relationship. The author wears a necklace that is “a blue that used to match” her eyes. This reveals that when she starts her relationship with her partner, her eyes have the sparkle and shine that represents her love for him. At the time, she thinks her relationship will endure forever like a normal relationship that starts with love. However, her eyes are no longer blue, which signifies that the life has gone out of the relationship. The author mentions “I like to think I am remembering you. I like to think you don’t forget.” The purpose that she is wearing the necklace is because she wants to remember the happy days they had in the past, and she would like her partner to not forget and remember the good time they had.

When she says, “the necklace is heavy on my skin it symbolizes that their relationship has become more of a burden and thus she seems to strain under the load. She picks up her child, yet another load, and holds her in her arms, trying to calm the baby down. It seems she is all alone, physically and emotionally, for she sits in front of the television set and can only wish their relationship was different.

When she says, “I wait until I hear a latch lift” she is waiting for him to come back, as if he is the one that who can make the final decision that would affect her life forever. Through the poem she is in state of inactivity; for example, she sits, among toys and unwashed clothes, suggesting that she has neither the energy nor the motivation to keep her house in order.

This poem reveals that is the end of a once- happy story and that the author thought it would endure for the rest of her life. They have a daughter, and the author wants to try to work out her relationship but when he comes back and she hears his voice, his voice sounds strange because they do not communicate anymore. She doesn’t recognize his voice anymore because probably when they started this relationship his voice was like a gentle man with a long list of promises. The reason why he leaves her is a mystery because in this poem it does not specify or a least I didn’t read it.

When I started reading the poem I didn’t understand everything this poem tries to reveal. I was frustrated and I kept reading again and again. There was a part that at first I did not understand. This is the part where she says, “in a voice that no longer seems familiar, only strange.” But while rereading the poem I came to the conclusion that he leaves her. The part when the author says, “I hear a snap and sound like falling rain” at first confused me, but then I understand that the necklace is breaking, and so is her relationship.

For some reason he ends the relationship. The reality is that I don’t know the reason why he leaves her. But she has a kind of sentiment to her writing that apparently if he gave her the opportunity to rebuild this relationship she will try it. The fact that she continues to wear the necklace each day when he comes home signifies that she still is trying to hold onto the love that they once had.

Overall at the end of the poem, I still have some questions that the author doesn’t answer. For example, I would like to know why they were not happy any more. What happened in their relationship? Has the author made a mistake in the relationship since she is the one waiting? And why does the baby need to “forget” something? Has the baby been abused by her or her partner? I cannot confidently answer these questions because she left out the details.