"beware : do not read this poem" by Ishmael Reed - Norton Literature

Ishmael Reed was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee on February 22, 1938.  He acquired his education in Buffalo, New York at the University of Buffalo, where he was awarded an honorary doctorate.  He has won many awards for his literature during his career as a teacher at the University of California, Berkley, and now lives a happy, retired life with his wife in the area.


"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 hot so bad that finally she
locked herself indoors & her                                                             5
whole life became
    mirrors


one day the villagers broke
into her house   ,   but she was too                                                   10
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 :                                                        15
    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                                                            20
back off from his poem
it has drawn in yr feet
back off from this poem
it has drawn in yr legs


back off from this poem                                                                   25
it is a greedy mirror
you are into this poem   .   from
    the waist down
nobody can hear you can they   ?
this poem has had you up to here                                                     30
    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                                                             35
this poem has yr eyes
this poem has his head
this poem has his arms
this poem has his fingers                                                                   40
this poem has his fingertips
this poem is the reader & the
reader this poem


statistic   :   the us bureau of missing persons reports
                   that in 1968 over 100,000 people disappeared               45
                   leaving no solid clues
                          nor trace         only
      a space        in the lives of their friends
                                                                                                     [1970]

There are two voices that vie for our attention in this poem: the voice of the narrator, and the voice of the poem itself.  The narrator’s voice recounts an urban legend about a woman who had surrounded herself with mirrors.  When the suspicious village comes to deal with her, she disappeared inside her mirrors.  Ever since, “each tenant who bought the house… lost a loved one to/the ol woman in the mirror.”  However, throughout the poem, the diction, syntax, and punctuation that the narrator makes use of casts doubt on his sanity, especially the lengthened caesuras and the incorrect grammar and punctuation (“into her house   ,   but she was too/swift for them   .   she disappeared”); they subtly yet effectively illustrate his mental state.  Just as we start to deny his credibility and question his stability, that crazy narrator warns us of the “hunger of this poem.”  Sure enough, the second voice comes out: “it has drawn in yr feet… it has drawn in yr legs.”  Meanwhile, the narrator begs the reader three times to “back off from this poem.” 

If the reader doesn’t back off from the poem at this point, “you are into this poem,” and there is no way out; the rest of the stanza is one continual statement with no punctuation, the voice of the poem utilizing enjambment for a hypnotic effect which will assuredly draw the reader on to read further, until finally “this poem is the reader & the/reader this poem.”  After that, the reader suddenly reaches the sharp break between the stanzas, and, in the blink of an eye, it is all over: they have become a statistic to the “us bureau of missing persons,” and are gone without a trace.

Being aware of the clashing voices in the poem, the seemingly arbitrary structure of the stanzas becomes more meaningful.  The narrator starts off each stanza, and when he is left alone, the stanzas are short and concise, in accordance with the first two.  The third, however, is much longer than the first two: the narrator was interrupted by the voice of the poem, which drones on without interrupting punctuation or caesuras, creating a longer stanza (one that is less and less the narrator’s own voice).  Finally, the last stanza is almost entirely the voice of the poem; this wicked voice capitalizes on the opportunity and drones on for the longest stanza in the entire poem, drawing the reader deeper and deeper into the mirror until they are taken.

This is a clever poem.  I thought it was interesting how the poem tries to suck you into the mirrors   .   I chuckled to myself   ,  proud that I

was abl to c thru the lyes   .

Hold / up  ,  there is a

strange man at the


door