A review of 0.5 written by Ishmael Reed

Do you ever recall yourself saying, “If I only had a dime every time I heard that,” or, “If I got a dime everytime I did that, I’ll be rich.” Would you still be rich if you had a nickel? 0.5 is a short poem written by Ishmael Reed, who focuses on the balance of positive and negatives things in his life by how much money he would have. One of the major reasons I admire this author, is because of the way he used images. He connects objects in his poem to everyday things. Secondly. I liked the way I felt once the poem ended. The poem still had me thinking and wondering. Finally, once I stopped thinking, I realized the overall moral of the poem. It wasn’t just funny, wasn’t just entertaining, but also gave me something to profit from.

Poet Ishmael Reed connected everyday little things to help people get the concept of his poem. He took something as simple as a nickel and based it on the effect of his life if women loved him or rejected him. The part that actually made me stop, think and image about what he was saying was, “If I had a nickel for all the women who’ve rejected me in my life I would be the head of the world bank with a flunkie to hold my derby, as I prepared to fly charted jet to sign a check, giving India new lease on life.” He is just trying to explain he would be dirty filthy rich.

One of the feelings I received when I finish this poem was, “Wow! Did he mean it like that?” I believe Ishmael Reed intended people to walk away from this poem each interpreting it a different way. His last line is “ All I would be thinking about would be going home.” This could be a cute, sad, happy or depressing ending, depends on the reader.

As cute and simple as this poem may seem, the overall moral takes the reader in deeper. People are always saying how money isn’t everything, “It can’t make you happy.” My interpretation of this poem is that Ishmael doesn’t believe money is everything. This concept goes back to the ending where Ishmael says, “All I would be thinking about would be going home.” He might be dirt poor, but he would be going home to someone who loves him for who he is.

Ishmael Reed took images, the reader’s interpretation and a deep moral and made a short poem. The poem focuses on his horrible way with women and made himself rich and poor. Next time you say. “If I only had a dime everytime…,” think about does it really matter?