Have you ever missed someone so much that everything in your house reminds you of them? Have you ever missed someone so much to the point that they are always on your mind and you love that person so much it is too hard to let go? From a personal experience, I can say that I have missed someone that much. Ms. Julie Kane writes about this exact subject in "On the Departure of My Guest" in her book Rhythm and Booze. The poem explains how this ladies guest has left her and he has left little things behind to remind her of him. As I read this poem, it became more evident that this lady really missed this man. From what I could tell it was either her husband or her boyfriend. I could not tell whether he left for good or to go on business. To me, this poem is about love and how much you love a person. Love is such a strong word but it has such great meaning. Just saying the word love makes me warm and funny inside because I am in love and I know what the feeling is like. Many people fall in love and often lose those loved ones. Losing a loved one can be tough and sometimes people never really overcome losing that person. Everyone loses loved one and everyone will eventually overcome losing that loved one. Ms. Kane describes things she finds around her house to remind her of him. She does things that they used to do to remind her of him. How many people find themselves looking for things to remind them of their loved ones? .
In the beginning of the poem, she says "I search my house late Sunday afternoon making a list of what he's forgotten" (Kane 62). I can take this two ways: she was purposely looking around her house to find things he left or she accidentally stumbled upon them. How Ms. Kane describes the first stanza, it seems to me that she was purposely looking for the things he has forgotten. Have you ever caught yourself doing that? I know from personal experience that when I lost my loved one, I spent days looking for little things that reminded me of her.