By: Maria Alfaro Lisset Basilio Ignacio Gonzalez English, Period: 3 Facing It By: Maria Alfaro Lisset Basilio Ignacio Gonzalez English, Period: 3

Yusef Komunyakaa 04/29/1947 Komunyakaa was born in Louisiana and was raised during the Civil Rights movement. He was the oldest out of the five siblings and lived with both parents. He was married to Mandy Sayer (who was an author) for ten years. He later had a child with a poet , Reetika Vazirani. Komunyakaa first received wide recognition in the year of 1984 for publishing, Copacetic and was influenced by the jazz

Autobiography Changed his name from James White Brown Jr. to his current name because of personal reasons. Served in the U.S. army from 1969-1970 as a managing editor, the Southern Cross. Received a bachelors degree from the university of Colorado springs in 1975. Toi Derricotte wrote about Komunyakaa and how he talks about important issues, including how cruel it can be, being a human. Before creating this poem, he first visited the Veteran Memorial in the year of 1983.

Facing It My black face fades, hiding inside the black granite. I said I wouldn’t, dammit: No tears. I’m stone. I’m flesh. My clouded reflection eyes me like a bird of prey, the profile of night slanted against morning. I turn this way--the stone lets me go. I turn that way--I’m inside the Vietnam Veterans Memorial again, depending on the light to make a difference. I go down the 58,022 names, half-expecting to find my own in letters like smoke. I touch the name Andrew Johnson; I see the booby trap’s white flash. Names shimmer on a woman’s blouse but when she walks away the names stay on the wall. Brushstrokes flash, a red bird’s wings cutting across my stare. The sky. A plane in the sky. A white vet’s image floats closer to me, then his pale eyes look through mine. I’m a window. He’s lost his right arm inside the stone. In the black mirror a woman’s trying to erase names: No, she’s brushing a boy’s hair.

Facing It My black face fades, hiding inside the black granite. I said I wouldn’t, dammit: No tears. I’m stone. I’m flesh. My clouded reflection eyes me like a bird of prey, the profile of night slanted against morning. I turn this way--the stone lets me go. I turn that way--I’m inside the Vietnam Veterans Memorial again, depending on the light to make a difference. I go down the 58,022 names, half-expecting to find my own in letters like smoke. I touch the name Andrew Johnson; I see the booby trap’s white flash. Names shimmer on a woman’s blouse but when she walks away the names stay on the wall. Brushstrokes flash, a red bird’s wings cutting across my stare. The sky. A plane in the sky. A white vet’s image floats closer to me, then his pale eyes look through mine. I’m a window. He’s lost his right arm inside the stone. In the black mirror a woman’s trying to erase names: No, she’s brushing a boy’s hair. Tone: Negative Positive Both

Structure This poems is a free verse He speaks in first person narrative. It contains many types of imagery, metaphors, personification, allusion, word connotation, and similes. This poem is a total of 31 lines. The symbolism to this poem is the stone. The theme of the poem is the haunting effects of the war, causing for the mood to be surreal.

Lines 1-2 My black face fades, hiding inside the black granite. Komunyakaa begins by talking about his skin color. He’s emphasizing his ethnicity when he compares his skin color to the stone. In line 1, “face fades” uses alliteration. He is looking at himself through the marble rock of names. granite- igneous rock My black face fades, hiding inside the black granite.

Lines 3-5 I said I wouldn’t, dammit: No tears. I’m stone. I’m flesh. 5 He tells himself to hold back his tears and shows the reader how much pain and emotional struggle Komunyakaa begins to get emotional and angry while staring at the names of the soldiers. Line 5 uses a metaphor. He was referring to himself of being strong like a stone but have flesh skin. The line may also be that he see’s himself in the stone and becoming it, but being made out of flesh. Lines 3-5 I said I wouldn’t, dammit: No tears. I’m stone. I’m flesh. 5

He is having a stare down with himself through the reflection of the wall However, he is having a flash back of the war. And continues The line “the profile of night/ slanted against morning.” signifies that it is in the sun rise. He then turns away from the wall meaning he comes back to reality. His constant turning and moving suggests emotion as he cant view the memorial from one point. Line 6-9 My clouded reflection eyes me like a bird of prey, the profile of night slanted against morning. I turn this way—the stone lets me go.

Komunyakaa turns back to the stone, meaning he begins to get pulled back to the battle field. While getting back to his past he hopes to have a change in it, rather then people getting killed. Lines 10-13 I turn that way—I’m inside 10 the Vietnam Veterans Memorial again, depending on the light to make a difference.

Lines 14-16 He draws attention to the reality by stating the exact number of men killed. In line 16, “like smoke.” contains a simile. He also wants his own name to be written down “like smoke”. Smoke vanishes as it appears unlike all the other names, which are permanently engraved. I go down the 58,022 names, half-expecting to find 15 my own in letters like smoke.

Andrew Johnson is a soldier who was known in Komunyakaa’s hometown. In line 18 he begins having a flash back. He watches others and finds it shocking that they can continue having a normal life and be in the presents of the memorial without it affecting the ability to function. Lines 17-21 I touch the name Andrew Johnson; I see the booby trap’s white flash. Names shimmer on a woman’s blouse but when she walks away 20 the names stay on the wall.

Lines 22-24 Thinking of “Brushstrokes flash” could also have similar meaning to “white flash” of the booby traps. The bird symbolizes his flash back memory and his reality. The names start to trigger memories, memories of war planes flying in the sky. Brushstrokes flash, a red bird’s wings cutting across my stare. The sky. A plane in the sky.

Line 27, “I’m a window.” uses a metaphor. Komunyakaa had an allusion of apparition figure staring at him so deep, he was staring into his soul. Lines 25 to 26 he uses imagery. Image of the vet is appearing in a ghost like form. The lose of the veterans arm insinuates him being a casualty of the war much as Komunyakaa peaceful mind. Lines 25-31 A white vet’s image floats 25 closer to me, then his pale eyes look through mine. I’m a window. He’s lost his right arm inside the stone. In the black mirror a woman’s trying to erase names: 30 No, she’s brushing a boy’s hair.