American Sonnet for My Past and Future Assassin ["I lock you in..."]

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2017

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Symbols & Motifs

The bird and the crow

The bird forms a recurrent and important motif in the poem, with the speaker intending the poem itself as a means to “separate the song of the bird from the bone” (Line 4). The song of the bird refers to the song or voice of Black Americans which the speaker wants to separate from the “bone” or the violence associated with racial injustice. However, the speaker suggests that the bone and the song of the bird are not really inseparable; the Black American poet cannot sing their personal song without including its historical and political context. In this sense, the bird represents the Black American poet, the fully expressed self, as well as the idea of freedom. The bird in the poem is repeatedly associated with the disparate images of violence/confinement and music, as in Line 11, when the poet describes the poem as “a box of darkness with a bird in its heart.” The motif of the bird is also a reference to the famous poem, “Caged Bird” by American poet Maya Angelou. In Angelou’s poem, the song of the caged bird – a symbol of oppressed minorities – is especially powerful because the bird longs for freedom. Hayes’s views are more skeptical; he believes the bird, representing Black Americans, is not yet free, since racial injustice continues. Hayes is unclear if the bird’s song can achieve freedom, or if the bird even sings of freedom. Yet, the bird has to sing even in its box or cage, since staying silent is not an option.

The image of the crow is another variation of the poem’s bird symbolism. The crow again represents the Black American self, which is beautiful but trapped within the confines of the gym. Again, the irony here is that a bird is associated with freedom and flight, but in the poem’s context, always occurs in closed structures and spaces.

The high school gym

In Line 7, the speaker introduces the image of a high school or college gym, a ubiquitous, all-American image, which in popular culture is associated with youthful energy and the competitive spirit. The negative values associated with the high school gym are of course, unhealthy competition and bullying. The speaker evokes both these associations by introducing the gym imagery, thus highlighting the positive and negative aspects of contemporary American culture. In this sense, the gym represents America and an idealized American culture. Alternatively, it symbolizes mainstream, white America. The values of this mainstream culture don’t hold steady in respect to Black Americans. In other words, the gym has double standards, or doesn’t offer Black Americans the same freedoms it does to the white majority. After all, the pep rally stars or the ideals of America droop and flake away when it comes to the crow. The gym is also indifferent to the suffering of the crow, or makes a spectacle of the suffering, as is suggested by the mention of the “better selves” that watch the black “from the bleachers” (Line 6). Further, the gym is more worried about the “feel of crow/Shit dropping to your floors” (Line 10) than anything else, suggesting that mainstream America cannot handle the reality of Black suffering. Finally, the gym, like the house and the music box, is a closed space for the Black self. It offers structure, but also confinement, and thus signifies ambiguity.

The sonnet

“I Lock You …” can be considered an example of metapoetry, or a poem about the writing and reading of poetry. In this context, the poem’s subject, the American Sonnet, is also one of its most powerful and complex motifs. The sonnet symbolizes a figurative space for the poet and the “you” persona; this space is variously a temporary respite (escape room), a prison, a music box, a meat grinder, and a gym. The many forms of the space show that it is a creative space where the speaker can describe themselves and the “you” with some freedom. However, the fact that it is a bounded space shows that no absolute freedom exists either for the speaker or the “you” persona. In another sense, the sonnet is a symbol of a space for discussion and self-confrontation. By writing the sonnet, the speaker locks the “you” – this time the reader reading the poem – in the speaker’s reality as a Black American. The reader is forced to consider this reality, as well as their role in creating it, while they are studying the sonnet. Thus, the structure and confinement of the sonnet comes in handy in creating a space where the reader can immerse themselves in self-reflection.