In June of 1998, James Byrd Jr, an African American, was offered a ride home by three Caucasian men, but was instead dragged by a pickup for three miles and left dead in front of a cemetery (“Imagine”). Lucille Clifton uses poetry of witness and her style choices to detail the physical damage as well as the betrayal felt by James Byrd Jr. nineteen years ago, and to call on the audience to seek justice due to the impressions left behind from hearing the dead man speak. Clifton’s poem “jasper texas 1998” is a reaction to this event, and is styled in a way that gives this dead man his testimony and lets the reader know that only the living can deal with the injustice left behind. “jasper texas 1998” is narrated by James Byrd Jr. who is speaking…show more content… Clifton uses this style to approximate speech because, for this poem’s purpose, it has the most impact on the reader. If James Byrd Jr. were alive to testify, he would not do so by rambling stanzas in perfect iambic pentameter. He would stand in front of the court room and voice his disappointment in his fellow man by simply speaking. Writing the poem in a way that mimics speech forces the audience to realize that the injuries and murder happened to real, once-living, person. Some might argue that many forms of literature mimic speech, and those works are not particularly inspiring because they do so. Clifton’s use of this technique adds impact because of all of the facts and emotions displayed in so few lines. Plays and novels also read like speech, but the length of the piece tend spread the devastation over many…show more content… / i was chosen to speak by the members / of my body […]” . In the second and third lines, the words “members” and “of my body” are separated. These lines refer to the fact that Byrd tried to hold his head up while he was being dragged on the road, but was decapitated in his struggle. Clifton gives us a graphic image of Byrd’s head in the road being torn off as it hit the pavement. While he chose his head to speak for his body, he was unjustly chosen by the members of the “political body” of racist people to be
