The warden said to me: page 311 poem number 250

The capitalization, or lack there of, in this poem had significance.  In the novel the things that are capitalized are things that are normally capitalized, like the beginings of  sentences, with one exception, the names are not capitalized.  The warden, whose name is "the warden" to the readers, is not capitalized, this indicates that although a warden is a man of power, in this situation he is meant to be seen as an ordinary man of the time period.  The other name that is not capitalized is the name of the black inmate etheridge.  In this situation the lack of capitalization indicates a complete lack of importance.  This indicates the lack of respect towards black people in the time period of the writing.  That indicates that in that time period lifes for black people was not as easy which goes with the last quote.
The use of parentheticals also helps the meaning of the poem.  The parentheticals indicate a certain tension between the warden and the inmate different than that of a normal conversation with an inmate.  The tension most likely comes from the prevalent racial tension at the time, indicated by the authors years of life.  The placement of the parentheticals indicate that they are referring to the words said by the warden and inmate.
I thought that the poem was very powerful.  I think the use of quotes really added to the poem and the last quote had such an impact.  The poem profficiently illustrates the difficulty of the lives of black people in the 1900s, which is quite recent. This piece inpacted me with its use of quotes, first person point of view and meaning.