Analysing the poem “Telephone Conversation”

The main way the poet makes her feel out of place is the cold climate of the weather.

In the poem "In-a Brixtan market" the poet make s the man feel out of place by Being a Jamaican and having a racist police officer. The man fought he had self respect and respect of others, As soon as he walked in the officer was right on him "Like them did a-wait fi mi." They searched his bag probably looking for drugs as that is the type of person that the British see Jamaicans. What did they find? 3 fruits, Pork and a Bob Marley CD. He then nearly flips because he knows that the police officer is being racist and that the approach was uncalled for. He tells himself to keep cool, don't push or chat back to the officer and in the last stanza he says he wins.

The poem "The Telephone Conversation" is racial for the lady to say what she did, but then I realised that the man was equipped for that kind of question and he was getting his own back on the so called posh lady. I felt angry for the man at first, but later on I became happy and pleased of the outcome.

The poem "The Fat Black Woman Goes shopping" is funny as you have the vision in your head of a fat black woman dawdling along looking for clothes. That is what I think the poem does, it makes you imagine pictures of the poem in your mind. In this poem the character is bitter and has more self-pity this does not make me feel sorry for her.

The poem "In-a Brixtan Market" it makes me feel and some parts make me laugh. I'm angry because the police officer is searching the man's bag because he's black! If I were this man I would have hit him by now because I would know the main reason he is searching my bag' But if I had chatted back to him that would have been a reason to arrest me. The funny parts in the poem are the way he speaks he uses dialect form of English - E.G "like them did a-wait fi mi." I also feel pleased for him at the end because he gains his self respect back.

Overall, I think that all three poets have been effective in conveying that the characters they describe are out of place. I believe the most effective one is Brixtan, I think this because he proves to the police officer that he is respectable. I would have chosen the Conversation but he gave her some attitude he did not show the lady that he is a respectable man and she still has her same views on what black people are like.

The poem "The Telephone Conversation" is written in first person, which is more effective than third person as you feel more involved. The comment "I hate a wasted journey" tells me that this has happened to the man before. It makes me feel sorry for the bloke because he has done nothing wrong. He uses humour to confuse the "posh" lady he uses colour of hair so that the woman can understand what kind of colour he is. I think this man is the better person because be doesn't wollow in self-pity and he is the one who makes the woman seem out of place.

The poem "The Fat Black Woman" is written in dialect and in third person, I don't think this is effective as the other two as you don't seem so involved. The use of dialect is quite effective though as it adds to the part. There is also humour in the poem, it is used in her speech and the words she uses such as "de pretty faced salesgals" instead of the pretty faced salesgirls There are also puns in the poem like "drag" which makes you think of her dragging her feet along the pavement. The mood of the poem changes quite a lot. She is sorry for herself then she seems to brighten up when she thinks of home. She also lightens up when she realises that she can't get any clothes to fit her and the self-pity level goes down.

"In-a brixtan market" is the most effective one for me because it is funny and is very close to reality. It uses the first person the same as the Conversation. It uses West Indian dialect, which is really funny. He uses the word "fi" which means many different words in English. It also seems like he's talking directly to us because he is always asking questions. The poem also shows how the man is angry by using exclamation marks. He also makes a point by listing what's in his bag. Near the end he starts talking to himself to try and calm himself down. The mood of the poem does change a bit, he feels he has respect when he walks in the market, he loses it when the police officer searches him and then he gains it back when he doesn't chat back or have any illegal goods in his bag.

The ending of this poem is the best for me as you feel good that "he won" and the other two do not have that much of a climax.