Imitation 3 (1970s): Piri Thomas, Love is Sharing

Assignment #5
Rap and Spoken Word

The poem “Love is Sharing,” by Piri Thomas is about love basically being taken for granted. I think Thomas is trying to say that love should not be treated the way it is being treated. He witness loved being used and abused and he cannot take it anymore. The context of this poem is out in the open. It is not directed to a specific person or takes place in a specific area but it is very general. Usually the contexts of things are directed to a specific person or area of interest. However, here I think Thomas lets the reader choose the context for him because it can be many things.

Love is a sharing

and a caring,

Born of truth

Love is not using

Or being used

Love is not abusing

or being abused

Love is not even

Giving or taking

For that leads to

counting and accountings

of "look what I did for you?"

      I think this poem is a confession because the poet constantly talks about how love is being taking for granted as if he was the one that has been taking love for granted his whole life. He finally notices his mistakes and wants others around him to not make the same mistakes that he made. So well maybe he is directing this poem to a specific group of people; people who has been in the same situation as him treating love as if it is not a person.

This brings me to the literally devices he uses in this poem. For example he uses personification, end rhyme, and lyrical poetry. I found it interesting the way Thomas uses love as a person rather than what it is; an abstract idea. I did not actually pick this up until I went through the poem for the fifth time. It is an interesting way to think of love as a person because it does take on some action of an actual human being. The end rhyme of this poem is A B A B then it drifts to a different rhyme scheme. He also uses lyrical poetry because he strongly expresses his opinion on love, its existence and how it is being portrayed. I enjoyed this poem because it gave me a different insight of love and its actually meaning.

 Love can mean many different things to different people and they can do anything they want to do to it because they feel they can. However, when reading this poem, and if you are the person taking love for granted, it would may you think twice about doing that. Thomas wants his readers to realize love is not just an abstract idea; it is a person also, so treat it as you would treat a person.