Visual Poetry Assignment - Legacy by Nikki Grimes

Judgment is about the judgment and hate that people of darker skin tones receive during this time. Talks about how they have done nothing to deserve it and people are judged for being associated with them. The metaphors in this poem talk about how the injustice. Specifically the line, “We study the heavens for a lightning bolt of justice.” This talks about how a lot of people resorted to the bible and hoped that people who have given the hate would be struck by lightning or hurt in any way for their actions. Not only that but the poem uses biblical terms like sin and heavens. These things add emotions and weight to the poem and connect to the title because judgment is a topic brought up in the bible a lot as well. This poem does not traditionally rhyme. Rather it structures itself to have bolded keywords at the end of each line of the poem. The bolded words make the sentence “ A hurricane of souls” which could mean the emotions and the pure widespread adoption of this judgment and hate during this time. All of these ideas and techniques display the severe hate and judgment of people of a darker ethnicity and how undeserved it was and is.