Beware: Do Not Read This Poem

Ishmael Reed 1970

“Beware: Do Not Read This Poem” was included in Ishmael Reed’s first volume of poetry, Catechism of d neoamerican hoodoo church: Poems, written by the end of 1968 but first published in 1970. The poem was then reprinted in Reed’s second volume of poetry, Conjure: Selected Poems, 1963-1970 (1972), which was nominated for a National Book Award for poetry in 1973, the same year his novel Mumbo Jumbo (1972) was nominated for the National Book Award for fiction. What one critic has said about Reed applies exceedingly well to “Beware: Do Not Read This Poem”: “Ishmael Reed’s importance to contemporary literary studies stems in part from his ability to channel his encyclopedic historical, political, and cultural knowledge into syncretic poetry and prose that resonate with the voices of diverse ethnicities, locations, and eras.”

Reed was a key figure in the Black Arts Movement; as a poet, he rejected established forms and introduced a new black poetry. “Beware: Do Not Read This Poem” employs colloquial language, nontraditional spelling, innovative typography, and unexpected rhythms. The poem is a cautionary tale whose title is a warning. It begins by describing a vain “ol woman” whose obsession with mirrors leads to her disappearance. In the next section, the scene changes to the most present of moments, the time during which the reader is reading the poem. The concept presented here is that a poem is an entity able to engulf and devour the reader — another kind of disappearance. Finally, in the last lines, Reed offers grim statistics concerning the number of people who disappeared during just one year in the United States. The form of the poem ties the various story lines together; with unexplained spaces around punctuation and between words, Reed reinforces a theme of isolation and loss.