final essay

Poetry Essay

Poetry has many spectacular meanings toward some things such as friendship, love, and hope. To me poetry reflects life because of how detailed it is and how it can change the emotions of people. It’s simple words can just make a person smile or become more relaxed. Sometimes they can be terrifying, but possible all at once. In Please Don’t Take My Air Jordans by Reg e. Gaines, it reflects life because it explicitly shows the life of a person who's trying to be someone they really aren’t. That kind of behavior can cause crime, peer pressure, and makes you realize that the little things are much more important than bigger things in life.

To begin with, the poem shows readers the life of a teen go through a lot in order to get new gear (clothing, shoes, hats, and jackets), even if it’s a crime. “I fired (POW), he fell between two parked cars he was coughing/crying/blood dripped on the street and I snatched them air jordans off his feet”. This proves that some people would go through anything it takes to get whatever they want. In addition, he’s also poor “I gots no money no job” and i’m beginning this is a judgement thing. He’s obviously trying to be someone he’s not by getting gear by crime so that he wouldn’t be judge based on the person he really is.

Secondly, the poem shows the readers that the little things are much more important than the much more bigger things in life. “Cut school friday catch the subway downtown check out my victims hanging around maybe I’ll get lucky and find easy prey”. This proves that looking cool toward other people was more important than school “the very next day I bopped into school with my brand new air jordans man I was cool, I killed to get them but hey...I don’t care cuz now… I needs a new jacket to wear”. In addition, this is also related to crime because he killed to get his new gear and that it seems more important than school because he was able to cut school and get new gear so that he’s able to look cool.

Finally, the poem shows the readers that peer pressure can also play a part when it comes to becoming someone you really aren’t. For starters this just comes back to being judged. “I can’t have my posse laughin at me, I’ll cop something dope just wait you’ll see”. this is a sign of peer pressure because he is forced to get new clothing so that his so-called friends won’t laugh at him and to me that’s judgement. In addition, this proves that no matter what, the main person in the poem is willing to get more gear in order to defend his ego. However, in a way peer pressure was also included into crime because he was forced to kill that guy for his jordans. When being judged the pressure begins to build and cause you to do things you’d never expect.

This text connects to the world because there are a substantial amount of people that are in poverty and would do certain things to get what they want so that they aren’t judged in a bad way. In addition, this connect to the world because people sometimes are forced do things to get things like robbing another person for what they have.