In his nostalgic poem “Blackberries”, Yusef Komunyakka allows the reader to better connect with the speaker’s problems by the use of first person point of view. By allowing the young boy to express his stream of conscious directly to those listening to the poem, we get an intimate glimpse at his transition from innocence. The poem begins with the boy recalling his time spent picking wild blackberries. He enjoys this act, and how it leaves his hands stained “like a printers/Or a thief’s before a police blotter”. These imaginative comparisons help the reader to understand the youthful innocence in which the boy sees himself, making the simple task into an exciting game. He goes on to describe to us the surplus of sensory information the task
