Ishmael Reed

Beware: Do Not Read This Poem

tonite, thriller was
abt an ol woman, so vain she
surrounded herself w/
    many mirrors

It got so bad that finally she
locked herself indoors & her
whole life became the
    mirrors

one day the villagers broke
into her house, but she was too
swift for them, she disappeared
    into a mirror
each tenant who bought the house
after that, lost a loved one to
    that ol woman in the mirror:
    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
back off from this poem
it has drawn in yr feet
back off from this poem
it has drawn in yr legs
back off from this poem
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
            belch
this poem aint got no manners
you cant call out frm this poem
move & roll on to this poem

do not resist this poem
this poem has yr eyes
this poem has his head
this poem has his arms
this poem has his fingers
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
            leaving no solid clues
                  nor trace             only
    a space          in the lives of their friends

 

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