If They Should Come for Us

While traditional form and formal meter do not apply to “If They Should Come for Us”—which is written in free, unrhymed verse—repetition is an important poetic element in the poem. Repetition of the phrase “my people” (Line 1) occurs nine times throughout the poem. Six of those instances occur side by side. The effect of “my people my people” (Line 4) becomes that of an incantation or lamentation. The phrase underscores the concept of community and brings the reader back to the concept of “Us” in the title. The repeated actions of the speaker, who “shadow[s]” (Line 2) their people “through any wild all wild” (Line3), who “claim” (Line 8) virtual strangers as her “kin” (Line 8), and who vow “if they come for you the / come for me too” (Line 31-32) lend credibility to the idea that disparate individuals can achieve solidarity. The phrase “my people” (Line 1), repeated at intervals in the poem, embodies both the courage of the individual and the notion strength in unity.

The poet employs enjambment, or the continuation of a phrase from one line to the next, throughout “If They Should Come for Us.