a space in the lives of their friends

External Form #2: beware: do not read this poem by Ishmael Reed can be found on p. 1040 of the Norton.

This poem has multiple factors contributing to the external form and its significance to the poem. To begin, the apparent changes in punctuation and grammar stand out quite a bit. The author puts in a lot of spaces and commas as well as punctuation marks where they don't belong. I think he did this to give an exaggerated feeling to the poem. He puts spaces where he wants the reader to feel the detachment within the poem. For example, he uses a lot of spaces when he talks about the old woman in the beginning. We feel her detachment from the world through the author's use of the large spaces between words and phrases.

In addition, the author didn't use any capital letters, including in the title. I think this makes the poem feel more casual and like a story. He is telling the reader a story and giving warning at the same time. However, we do not pick up on the warning right away because of the casual nature of the poem. If the author had used all capital letters then we would get a more alarming feeling; but he chose to use all lowercase which presents a laidback feeling in the poem.

I think that the author used these methods to drag us in to the poem. Ironically, he is warning us not to get dragged in. He is warning us to stay attached to the world outside like the woman with the mirrors did. His imagery of the poem physically swallowing the reader is wen I finally caught his point. He wants us to step back from poetry and instead of letting it eat our minds and bodies, just enjoy it for what it is. Do not become like the old woman with the mirrors and simply become obsessed with your own mind. Share poetry with others and therefore make friends, if you don't listen to what he says then you will be separated from people forever.