Hayden's poem

I like Hayden’s poem a lot because it is very different from the other poems we have been reading. After all, the meaning of the poem is conveyed through dialogue and point of view. The speaker of the poem shifts to make the poem feel like a conversation. For example, the first line “A quavering cry. Screech owl?” reveals a change in perspective. “A quavering cry” sounds like the narrator of the poem speaking but with the “screech owl?” with the question mark, makes me ask who is talking? Now I am pulled further into the scene because as a reader I am experiencing different perspective of this night in Mississippi. This shift in speaker continues throughout the poem and is apparent through “Time was. A cry? A cry all right” The first part again sounds like the narrator but “A cry” “A cry all right” sets the tone for either an inner dialogue where the person reaffirms their first observation that there is indeed a cry or perhaps a third person is in the scene that answers the question of whether the strange sound is a “cry” and not the presupposed “screech owl.” I think there are at least two people in the scene as Hayden says, “ beat them till our arms was tired.” The “our” suggests that there is more than one person partaking in the killing of a black man. The short line format of the poem adds to the idea that there is a dialogue going on. Also, the terse line breaks convey the sense that the slaughter of the black man is not uncommon. The staccato feeling of the words and sudden line breaks go along with the tone of the poem as the murders have no feeling or emotion towards their actions.