Telephone Conversation

“Telephone Conversation” is a free-verse poem with no particular rhyme scheme or meter. It is one large stanza, packing heavy themes into a tightly packed 35 lines. The use of enjambment, or the flow of a complete thought from one line to the next, makes the conversation appear fuller. Even without a particular rhyme scheme, the use of alliteration and consonance, both involving the repetition of consonant sounds, brings the musicality of the poem to life. For example, the ”L” sound in “lipstick coated, long gold-rolled” cigarette holder (Line 8) gives the landlady’s voice a light quality, which contrasts the harsh words and tone coming from her mouth. Additionally, the use of capitalization for much of the landlady’s dialogue, particularly her responses and questions involving the specific shade of the speaker’s skin, draws attention to the words. If the readers glanced down and saw only those words, they would pick up on the racist context before reading any further.