Shel Silverstein

Pathetic Way of Getting Over Me

Pathetic Way of Getting Over Me - meaning Summary

Feigning Freedom, Hiding Pain

The speaker recounts a former lover’s flashy behavior—parties, marriages, ostentatious dates—but insists these are theatrical attempts to mask lingering hurt. He frames her public displays as performative, driven by jealousy and an inability to forget. The tone is colloquial, wry, and unsympathetic; the recurring assertion that her actions are a "pathetic way of getting over" him underlines the poem’s focus on appearance versus inner pain.

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Oh if you read in the papers that she's been seen A gettin' in an out of some millionare's long custom made limousine She may fool you with her smile but I can see That's just her poor hopeless heartless helpless pathetic way of gettin' over me So you were down at Joe's on the night she broke her zipper And some wane brain drunk champagne out of her slipper And she danced on the piano and she screamed hurray I'm free That's just her poor hopeless heartless helpless pathetic way of gettin' over me Oh she'll do anything she can just to make me jealous Of course forgettin' me is gonna take her lots of years So I call her now and then just out of pitty when she laughs at me That's just her way of bravely holding back her tears What's that you say she got married oh the poor little fool To some handsome movie star with the mansion and a swimming pool And she's looking good and she's got a kid or two or three That's just her poor hopeless heartless helpless pathetic way of gettin' over me (Pathetic way of tryin' to get over me but she ain't never gonna make it honey I mean those guys those guys you see her with now They're they're the relatives maybe business assiciates I mean I know this woman and she's sittin' home bitin' her fingernails Let me tell you she's just readin' magazines She she may look like she's enjouin' herself That's the way she looks when she's really gettin' bad I know this woman)

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