What happens Next

 After reading the assigned poems from 180 more by Billy Collins, two demanded my attention and addressed similar themes of the unknown “Painting a Room” and “In the rear-view mirror”. Not only did the two poems have the same unknown characteristics but both have a sense of someone leaving or moving on. Both poems have unique way of describing the feelings a person has when coming to terms on leaving or moving to different stages in their life. I believe everyone has this depressing feeling overcome them when leaving a loved one or your mother and father. Some people feel the same sort of sadness when moving out of a home or apartment. Especially after living in a home for more than ten years you have a tear-jerking feeling or almost heartbreaking to move out. Different aspects in each poem were similar from the narrator’s way of leaving out what happens next, also the feel of someone moving away or leaving something behind.

 In the poem “painting a room” a woman is crying while painting her apartment before she moves out to start a new beginning. In the poem the narrator makes you feel that the woman painting her apartment has had his fair share of hardship. The 14^th sentences states “Ten years of fears, unrequited loves, odd jobs, of night phone calls. Now they’ve disconnected the line.”(14-15) this tells the reader that this person has been through several heartaches and multiple relationships throughout her ten years in the apartment. I believe she is sad while she is painting overall; she is leaving her past in the freshly painted room.

In addition, the poem “In the rear-view mirror” the man or woman is driving away while watching his family disappear in the rear-view mirror of their car. The poems depicts that the road is your life and the rear-view mirror is your past and the front windshield is your future. In both poems someone is leaving and they do not know what is in the future for them. The poem states “. . . Nothing but empty road. Ahead of you are towns where you will never know a soul, exits following exits you will pass. . .” (13-14) This tells the reader that the opportunities ahead of the driver are unknown but, the outlook on their life is unlimited. While reading this poem notice the way the narrator refers to her memory as “higher-powered reflective instrument” that she can use to remember her loved one she left behind in her rear-view mirror.

Overall, both poems have a way of teasing the reader by not informing what the future beholds. These two poems show that it is hard to embrace the unknown, fear of change, and the future. Where did the person driving in the car go? What happened to the woman that was painting her apartment? The odd way the narrator is leaving it up to the reader intrigues me. It gives you the freedom to make up your own happy ending and imagine what happens next.