Poem Reading Response Final

People read and look at poems differently, thinking that there is only one meaning to the poem. Poems are a gate way into another person’s mind and perspective. Like the poem, “Please Don’t Take My Air Jordans” by Reg e. Gains, takes the reader into the shoes of the speaker who will do anything to make sure he looks good because he is influenced by his friends.

One example that shows that the speaker is willing to do anything to make sure he looks good is in this part of the poem, “Its easy to steal fresh gear from the mall/parents say I shouldn’t but I shouldn’t but I know I should/gots ta do what I can to make sure I look good” (Gains 9-11). This quote shows that he would do anything to make sure he looks good because it says in the quote that it’s easy to steal fresh gear from the mall, so the speaker must be stealing from the mall in order to get new shoes. Another way this quote proves that the speaker is willing to do anything to make sure he looks good is how he says his parents say that he shouldn’t steal but he does it anyway. So the speaker is so desperate to look good that he disobeys what his parents tell him.

Another example of the speaker willing to do anything to make sure he looks good is in this part of the text ,“Made a left on Houston pulled out my gun and screamed/GIMME THEM JORDANS … /and I snatched them air Jordans  off a his feet” (Gains  43 & 48). This quote shows how the speaker will do anything to make sure he looks good because the speaker took out his gun and screamed “gimme them jordans”. So the speaker is willing to kill a person in order to get the air jordans that he is wearing. Also The speaker threats the boy with his gun in order to get the shoes. All this, just so the speaker can impress his peers and make himself look good.

The final example of the speaker willing to do anything to make sure he looks good is in the end of the poem, “I killed to get them but hey...I don’t care.”  This quote shows how the speaker is willing to do anything to make himself look good because he said it himself that he doesn’t care that he killed to get the air jordans. The speaker does this because he is influenced by his peers.

Poems are like lollypops, you unwrap it, than you start eating it then you get to the center of the lollypop with the most flavor. Except with a poem you turn the page, you than you read it until you get to the end, where you find out the message of the poem.  After reading this poem , I realized that poems can unveil the true personalities of people like the speaker of this poem. You never know how desperate the person might be to make him or herself look good just like the speaker of this poem.