Lines 1-5

The first stanza of “Portrait of a Couple at Century's End” establishes a commuter traffic scene. The poem starts out on a note of discomfort, beginning with the word “Impatient.” The drivers of the cars are looking forward to their homes, where, presumably, they will be comfortable and feel safe from the hassles of their day. Santos compares the sound of cars on a wet street to the sound made by construction paper when it is torn. The tearing of construction paper foreshadows domestic strife.

This stanza ends with what seems like a redundancy. The sheets of paper in the audio image are said to be torn not only “their length” but also “through.” This image makes more sense when “through” is joined to the following stanza, to make “through / the walls,” which is where the sound can be heard.

Lines 6-10

With the second stanza...