Blink Your Eye Poem

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Blink your Eyes Analysis
Sekou Sundiata’s “Blink your Eyes” is a poem on social prejudice and racism told from a black man’s perspective. The speaker laments how the society and the law treat him. Black people are not expected to own classy cars as they are assumed to have stolen. Anyone driving an old car is also supposed to be black. The speaker uses powerful figurative language through the use of symbolism, personification, metaphors. He also uses repetition, dialogue and sound patterns such as rhyme, alliteration, and assonance to clearly capture the discrimination that black people face just because of their different color.
Sound patterns are well manifested in the poem through the use of Rhyme, alliteration, and assonance. The author has effectively used these patterns to make the words stick in the audience’s mind and therefore understand better the subject being communicated. Rhyme can be clearly identified in the second stanza when the speaker says that he could wake up in the morning without warning. The words “morning” and “warning” rhyme. He also says that it all depends on “the skin you live in.” In this case, the words “skin” and “in” are rhyming words. In the third stanza, eighth line, the speaker is told to put his hands in the air as he knows the routine yet he doesn’t care. The words air and care are a perfect example of rhyme in the poem. In the sixth line, the policeman says “I watch the news, and you always lose.

” This is also another use of rhyme as the words “news” and “lose” rhyme. Other examples of rhyme use in this poem can be clearly identified in the word unreliable and undeniable, serious and dangerous, ‘night’ and “light”, and finally, “position” and “registration.” The term position and registration also rhyme.
Alliteration is also easily identifiable in the poem. Words such as “sunroof” and “stereo” as well as “seats” and “sit” in the first stanza depict the use of alliteration. In the second stanza, without and warning as well as could and change also serve the same purpose. These words are well arranged in the respective sentences, create a monotonous, repeated sound that accentuates the impact of the message by making it more vivid in the audience’s mind. The sounds help in stressing the speaker’s message; black people have long been discriminated against and that they are always mistaken for lawbreakers and criminals. Assonance is also notable in words know and low.
The speaker has also used repetition to make the audience focus on the message he wants to deliver. In the first stanza, the metaphor red light is repeated thrice in the third sentence to emphasize the irony of the situation in which he found himself. According to him, he did not ride through a red light; it was green. The phrase I was on my way is also repeated in the first and second line. The author also repeats the word ride to outline the perception that exists regarding the type of car that black people are expected to ride. “It was about my ride,” “If you saw my ride.” From his description, the car was quite classy and therefore the policeman may have doubted his ownership of the car. The author also says that “it all depends on, depends on the skin, depends on the skin you living in” (Sundiata 45-46). This phrase is repeated in almost all the stanzas to emphasize how one’s color determine how one is viewed by others and how they expect him to conduct himself or live. In general, repetition was used to emphasize the widespread discrimination of black people based on their skin and their expectations to abide by all regulations imposed on their life.
Symbolism is also utilized by the speaker to describe his social limitations and highlight how the society expects him to live or behave. The red light is used as a symbol of breaking the law as a result of his social life. The speaker highlights how going to see his girlfriend was regarded as breaking the law. He says that he was on his way to see his girlfriend, but the law said he was on his way through a red light. The use of personification is also evident in the play. The speaker personifies the law in the first stanza when he says; “The law said I was through a red light” (Sundiata 2). Also, the speaker says, “Up to the window came the Law” “His hand on his gun” The speaker intended to show how the law through policemen was a black man’s burden through controlling his life. The speaker also uses dialogue to portray the society’s ignorance and perspective regarding people of color. He does this through the choice of a police officer who clearly shows his dislike of blacks. He describes his actions as routine and therefore something he can’t avoid. He has to remove the black man from the vehicle because he has been watching the news and therefore according to the society’s perception, he could be dangerous.
In conclusion, the argument of the poem is that the speaker was stopped while going to see his girlfriend just because of his color. According to the police, he had run a red light, but this was not true as the light was green at that time. According to the author, he broke the law by going to see his girlfriend and for questioning why he had been stopped. The speaker intends to show the audience how black people face all manners of discrimination due to their color. According to the speaker, the color of one’s skin changes the perception that people have regarding you and how you should live. According to the author, black people are projected as violent, dangerous and unreliable.
Work Cited
Sundiata, Sekou. “BLINK YOUR EYES: SEKOU SUNDIATA REVISITED.” Sekousundiata.org. N.p., 2016. Web. 15 Dec. 2016.