If you ever find yourself, some where lost and surrounded by enemies who won't let you speak in your own language who destroy your statues & instruments, who ban your omm bomm ba boom then you are in trouble deep trouble they ban your own boom ba boom you in deep deep trouble
humph!
probably take you several hundred years to get out!
Literary Devices
Onomatopoeia is used in the lines "omm bomm ba boom" which is the sound a drum makes, drums being an instrument used in Africa which is what the poem is about. Repetition is also found when the poet repeats the word trouble, which in the poem refers to a culture being diminished.
Black Arts
This movement usually dates to about 1960s or the 1970s but are still created today. Black Art poetry is usually about African American culture or history. This movement is criticized for being racially exclusive, homophobic, etc. Many people credit that this movement has inspired people to write poetry and you will probably read some of these in schools.
Analysis
The poem Wise I, is about the slavery of Africans. The lines, "lost and surrounded by enemies who won't let you speak in your own language, who destroy your statues and instruments." Describe what happens when a country or territory is being conquered, which is the culture is either destroyed or damaged. The last line "Probably take you several hundred year to get out" The author being African American, it is assumed she is talking about when Africans were taken from Africa to become slaves, which did last a couple centuries.