Locomotion

From the outset, Lonnie reveals the significant role that writing and poetry play in his life. His teacher, Ms. Marcus, encourages him, instructing him to “write it down before it leaves [his] brain” (1). This strategy helps Lonnie cope with his thoughts and feelings: Writing everything down gives him an outlet for his swirling emotions in the aftermath of his parents’ deaths. Furthermore, she pushes Lonnie to reflect on his words after the initial brain dump to sift out what’s most important. In poetry, she tells him that “line breaks help / us figure out / what matters / to the poet” (4). Ms. Marcus not only provides writing instruction to Lonnie but also gives him good life advice. It isn’t enough to just vent; it’s also necessary to reflect. By forcing him to think about line breaks in poetry, Ms. Marcus nudges Lonnie to examine his thoughts and feelings, whether or not she intends to. In this way, the novel’s opening pages introduce the theme of The Healing Power of Writing.

Through his writing, Lonnie helps establish a second theme too: The Search for Identity and Belonging. Since his parents died and his sister was adopted by another family, Lonnie grapples with who he is and where he belongs. In “Mama” when all he wants is to find a scent that reminds him of his mother, he worries about doing it quickly because of how society perceives him as a Black boy. He approaches the cosmetics counter quickly “before the guard starts / following [him] around like [he’s] gonna steal something” (7). Lonnie’s recognition of this stereotype highlights a disconnect between who Lonnie is—a hurting boy who misses his deceased parents—and the threat that others see him as because of the color of his skin—a thief up to no good. Furthermore, Lonnie struggles to find his identity in a different way, as a child without a permanent home. When he lives in the group home, he sees the other boys as “monsters” but recognizes that he’s like them when he says he’s “a Throwaway Boy” (16), or a child whom no one wants in their family. This realization weighs on him because he feels worthless and unloved, as is evident in his using the word “throwaway,” a synonym for trash. Additionally, Lonnie longs to remain a child but understands that social expectations dictate that he act tough. For example, on Halloween he talks about how the first graders hang up pictures in the hallway:

We don’t do none of that in fifth grade.

We don’t want to.

I mean, we’re not supposed to want to.

But sometimes

I do (17).

First, he notes what they don’t do in fifth grade, yet a new line starts with the word “But” indicating that he desires the opposite of what’s expected. Likewise, the line breaks isolate what he yearns for in contrast to what others expect of him. This is one of many moments when Lonnie is conflicted about his identity.

Another theme that emerges is The Enduring Support of Family. Memories of his family—smelling his mother’s perfume, holding his sister, Lili, and braiding her hair—sustain Lonnie through difficult times: He even searches for his mother’s scent in a drugstore. Lonnie’s family is integral to his identity too, as evident in “How I Got My Name,” which recounts that he was named after a song his mother loves, “Locomotion.” Her love is literally wrapped into his identity. Additionally, when learning about Langston Hughes and epistle poems at school, Lonnie pens a letter in verse to his father, not only reminiscing about their time together but also insisting that he’ll never forget his dad and even try to find a poem that his father read to him once. Many of these early poems home in on Lonnie’s memories of the past, a focus that helps him through the grieving process.

The book’s varied structure emphasizes Lonnie’s quest for identity and belonging, as he experiments with the different kinds of poems he learns at school, such as haikus, epistle poems, sonnets, and prose poetry. Furthermore, Ms. Marcus tells him that line breaks help the reader understand what’s important to the poet. The enjambment—a line break in the middle of a sentence, typically without punctuation—that Lonnie uses often reveals what’s on his mind. For example, in “Halloween Poem,” Lonnie expounds on his desire for a big brother to protect him. However, in the final two lines of the poem, he emphasizes, “But I / don’t” (17). The separation of these lines not only highlights his lack of a big brother but mirrors how alone he is. They’re short and choppy and feel like quick, painful jabs of truth. Likewise, in “Roof Poem II,” Lonnie imagines falling up into the sky, discovering new worlds only to return. The place he wishes to return to is a line all by itself, “home,” illuminating how desperately he wishes for a place to belong and feel safe. These poems demonstrate that the varied structure of verse isn’t random but instead indicates Lonnie’s state of mind as well as what he values and desires.