Poetry by Knight and Groddeck There are facets of Etheridge Knight's poem, "A Wasp Woman Visits a Black Junkie in Prison" that both participate in a dying tradition as posited by Groddeck and which also attest to a variation of the notion of democracy -- which is far from ideal. In that respect, one can successfully defend the notion that this work of the author actually embraces more of the former concept than the latter. An examination of the language, its connotations, and the events that take place in the poem readily attest to this fact.

One of the aspects of this poem that is most enjoyable to the reader is the fact that it is highly realistic in its depiction of the conventional relations between African-Americans and Anglo-Saxons, particularly during the fiery time period in which the poet was composing this and other works that deal with a similar theme. The poet alludes to the fact that as an African-American drug abuser, there is very little in common that the protagonist could have with such a White Anglo...

The following quotation sufficiently demonstrates this fact. "After the seating / And the greeting, they fished for a denominator,/Common or uncommon;/And could only summon up the fact that both were human" (Knight). This quotation underscores the fact that there is essentially nothing in common between this pair, largely due to their racial distinctions. Quite often, criminal African-American junkies have been depicted in American society as the exact opposite of prim and proper Caucasian women, and this quotation alludes to this fact. As such, they have nothing in common except for a trite conversation about the children of the woman. The uselessness of such a superficial conversation adds to the realism depicted to the relationship between the pair, as the following quotation proves. "She offered no pills / To cure his many ills, no compact sermons/but…small talk" (Knight). Such a quotation demonstrates the fact that the woman does not help the junkie by giving him drugs or religious advice,…