Language and style

Important landmarks when analyzing poems like “please don’t take my air jordans” by Reg E. Gaines are the language and the style used by the author, which set the tone of the poem, signal the literary current the poem belongs to and which make the poem appealing.

Playing with the language

The poet is playing with language in the poem by using multiple colloquial or slang idioms such as “look real fly” (l. 13), “my ego will pop like a ten cent balloon” (l. 18) or “i'll cop somethin” (l. 32). Otherwise, the poem uses quite authentic slang vocabulary used in everyday life by African-Americans coming from poor, ill-famed areas, which is actually very straightforward for the American readership: “crew” (l. 21), “posse” (l. 31), “homes” (l. 35), etc.

Tense of the verbs

The poem is rendered in the present tense (simple or continuous), giving the impression that the action described happens at the moment of the account:

my air jordans cost a hundred with tax
my suede starters jacket says raiders on the back
i'm stylin . . . smilin . . . lookin real mean cuz
it ain't about bein heard just bein seen (ll. 1-4)

The use of the present tenses helps suggest a permanent, repetitive situation. Just like the speaker, there are probably many other poor youngsters who resort to stealing and killing and have become dehuma...