Reading Response Essay- Poetry

Poem Title; “Please Don’t Take My Air Jordans”

By: reg e. gaines

Asia Di Bari 804                                                                                                  February 13th 2014

A lot of people will commit crimes and harm others in order to get what they want just so that they can look good. In the poem, “Please Don’t Take My Air Jordans,” by reg e. gaines, the speaker steals and shoots somebody so that he can have new shoes and new gear in order to look good and have new things like his friends do. He does this so that he can be accepted by his peers. This shows that he doesn't care about how other people feel about what he does. He will do anything so that he can get what he wants.

The speaker in the poem has no money, and wants to steal things from the mall so that he is able to get good gear. One important observation that I made while reading this poem was that he steals things in order to look good, this is an example of one of the crimes that he commits. This is shown in the quote, “and I gots no job no money at all/ but it’s easy to steal fresh gear from the mall” This shows that the speaker knows that there is no other way to get what he wants because he has no money at all. In addition this shows that the speaker needs to have the newest things, and he will get them even though he has no way to pay for what he wants.

The main character in the poem needs to have the freshest clothes and shoes, or he will be judged by his piers. He gets better things by not paying for them so that he can have a good vibe. This is shown in the quote, “but I really must get some new gear soon/ or my ego will pop like  a ten cent balloon” This quote shows that whatever he has now is going out of style and if he doesn't get something new soon he will be “lower class”. His peers judge him because he doesn't have the newest things, and his looks are very important to him. If he doesn't have new gear than it is like he is not up to par. That is why his looks are so important to him.

The speaker in this poem shoots somebody that is wearing the Jordan's that he wants to have. One important observation that supports my focus is that he commits crimes just to get what he wants. This is shown in the quote, “I fired (POW) he fell between two parked cars/ he was coughing/crying/blood dripped onto the street/ and I snatched them air jordans off his feet.” This shows that when the main character in the poem realized that those were the Jordans that he wanted, he decided to do anything that it would take in order to get what he wanted. In addition, it shows that anybody at any given time will do harmful things to get what they want. They don't care about the impact it will have on the person that is getting harmed.

All in all, this poem showed me that there are many people in the real world that we live in, will do all that they can so they can have what they want in order to look a certain way. This related to me in a few ways. For example when I wanted the  Iphone, I fought for it. While I didn’t steal or shoot anybody, I wanted it because everybody else had it and I was the only one out of my friends that didn’t have one. I couldn’t get it myself because I didn’t have the money for it. This relates to the text because the character in the poem wanted things so that he wouldn’t be judged. He wanted to have the newest gear, and be like his peers. I think that when the reader is reading this poem, he or she should think about how this happens in the real world and how it can affect them. People do a lot of crazy things such as shooting and stealing to get everything and anything that they want. If it makes that person look and feel good, that everything is okay...to them. Also, as long as they have whatever is in style, then they are happy. They don’t care about how it can hurt others.