Poetry Idea Workshop Example

Below, find a free-verse poem by Ishmael Reed entitled "Beware: Do Not Read This Poem." Along with the poem, you'll find links to two other pages that show some thinking about the way this poem works. There are pages on the poem's rhyming patterns (one aspect of the poem's sound patterns), and on the figurative language that comprises part of the poem's image patterns.


"Beware : Do Not Read This Poem" by Ishmael Reed

tonite, thriller was
abt an ol woman , so vain she
surrounded herself w/
          many mirrors

it got so bad that finally she
locked herself indoors & her
whole life became the
          mirrors

one day the villagers broke
into her house , but she was too
swift for them . she disappeared
          into a mirror
each tenant who bought the house
after that , lost a loved one to
          the ol woman in the mirror :
          first a little girl
          then a young woman
          then the young woman/s husband

the hunger of this poem is legendary
it has taken in many victims
back off from this poem
it has drawn in yr feet
back off from this poem
it has drawn in yr legs

back off from this poem
it is a greedy mirror
you are into the poem . from
         the waist down
nobody can hear you can they ?
this poem has had you up to here
          belch
this poem aint got no manners
you cant call out frm this poem
relax now & go w/ this poem

move & roll on to this poem
do not resist this poem
this poem has yr eyes
this poem has his head
this poem has his arms
this poem has his fingers
this poem has his fingertips

this poem is the reader & the
reader this poem

statistic : the us bureau of missing persons re-
         ports that in 1968 over 100,000 people
          disappeared leaving no solid clues
          nor trace     only
a space     in the lives of their friends
 



As I'm sure you recognize, this is a free verse poem. But it still uses many poetic elements to create an overall meaning and aesthetic effect. Use the links below to see the skeletal elements of the poem, as well as some of the ways that a reader can make sense of the poem as a whole.
 


[Rhyming Patterns]  [Image Patterns]