The poem "Please Don't Take My Air Jordans" by reg e. gaines is a very sad and serious poem.  reg e. gaines uses many different kinds of literary devices to show just how serious this poem really is.  One example of a literary device used throughout this poem is simile, an example of simile in the poem is "They were q-tip white bright and blinded my eyes the red emblem of michael looked as if it could fly not one spot of dirt the airs were brand new had my pistol knew what to do."(Gaines 10)

Another type of literary device used in this poem is imagery, an example of that is "My crew's laughin at me cuz I'm wearing old gear school's almost over summer is near and I'm sportin torn jordans and need somethin new there's only one thing left to do."(Gaines 6)  That quote represents imagery because how how the speaker talks about what he is wearing, what his crew is thinking of him and also what place in the year they are in.

The two biggest types of literary devices used throughout this poem are rhyme, and rhythm which are used throughout most of the poem.  The poem "Please Don't Take My Air Jordans" is written like a rap song and is meant to be read like a rap song.  The writer reg e. gaines wrote this poem like a rap because he wanted the readers to understand the place of which the speaker in the poem came from and he also wanted the readers to understand how self-absorbed and also how self-conscious the speaker was about how he looked and what he wore.  reg e. gaines also wanted the readers to understand the lengths at which that the speaker was willing to go to get new clothes.