By Yusef Komunyakaa

Group: Lizbet Palacios ,Gladys Arciniega ,Elvis Garcia, Anthony Mancillas , Ruby Rodriquez

“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.

Born April 29, 1947 – / American poet Given birth name James William brown, he later changed his name to his

grandfathers He grew up in the small town of Bogalusa, Louisiana He served in the US army (1969-1971), he served during the Vietnam War

(1969-1971) During his time in the army he worked as the specialist for the military paper Yusef Komunyakaa interviewed soldiers and wrote articles on Vietnams History

to publish in the military paper. Earned a Bronze Star in his time serving the army Began to write poems in 1973 at the University of Colorado He earned his M.A. in writing at the University of Colorado(1978), and he

earned his M.F.A. in creative writing from the University of California, Irvine(1980)

Noble awards: Kinsley Tufts Poetry Award, Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, and Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize

Bio

“My black face fades,

hiding inside the black

granite.

I said I wouldn’t,

dammit: No tears.

I’m stone. I’m flesh.”

Hides his anger as well as struggles to resolve any emotional feelings from the war

“Stone” solid = restrained

“Flesh” can be seen as humans vulnerability , fragile

Black face hiding behind granite or a tombstone signifying death

Acknowledging being both “stone” and “flesh” reveals the veterans true conscienceless towards his own morality

“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. “

Poet sees his own mortality. After seeing his own reflection

sees that he is trapped in which he must break free from the bad part he sees.

Komunyakaa is a prisoner his only escape is to turn away from wall.

The wall with the veterans names is the constant reminder of what he wants to get away from remembering experiences from the war

No matter where he turns he just can’t escape

“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.”

The 58,022 names represent the number of soldiers that died in the Vietnam War.

Andrew Jackson was the 17th president. He denied to free slaves and equal protection.

“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.”

Names is personified as the veterans who passed away.

The names on the memorial wall reflect on the woman’s blouse

The granite from the wall as well as the sky reflect onto the woman’s blouse , reflecting the names from one place to another

The Poet sees the bird’s wings to being a plane, which means the threat of a plane attack during the Vietnam War.

“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.”

The vet looks right through him like a “window”

The white vet signifies another veteran that happens to be white.

The vet can see right through him because he has seen what Yusef has seen and what he’s going through.

Komunyakaa then believes that the woman is trying to remake the past, but then sees her true actions.

Komunyakaa does not know whether or not the women is trying to erase the names or bring back the dead veterans

Theme The theme of the poem is coping, coping with the events he

had faced during the war. “Facing It” goes through the emotional effects after the war

honoring the their sacrifices .

Meter Type of Poem My black face fades,

hi ding in side the black gran ite.

I said I would n’t,

dam mit: No tears.

I’m stone. I’m flesh.

The meter of the poem is a Iambic meter.

Has a different number of feet

Facing It is a Lyric Poem A lyric poem is a subjective,

reflective poetry with regular rhyme and meter which which reveals the poet’s thoughts and feelings to create a single, unique impression.

Literary Devices The poet uses Imagery to

descriptively show the negativity aspects of the war.

The poem has no rhyme scheme

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.

15 enjambments

I turn that way--I’m inside

the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

again, depending on the light

to make a difference.

8 caesuras

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

DictionNegative Diction Black, fades, tears, prey,

smoke, cutting, pale, lost, etc.

The poem has more of negative emotional tone.

The poet chooses negative vocabulary to demonstrate the negative aspect of the war.

Tone