Facing It - Another Look at Image
https://youtu.be/90yxqlVrLP8
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.
Yusef Komunyakaa, “Facing It” from Pleasure Dome: New and Collected Poems. Copyright © 2001 by Yusef Komunyakaa. Reprinted with the permission of Wesleyan University Press.
Source: Pleasure Dome: New and Collected Poems (Wesleyan University Press, 2001)
Source: Pleasure Dome: New and Collected Poems (Wesleyan University Press, 2001)
Discussion Questions:
Identify the images used in this poem. You may refer to chapter 2 of Imaginative Writing and your class partner (s) for assistance.
- Consider how to the images in this poem appeal to the senses of the reader.
- Identify at least two concrete, significant details.
- Identify one figure of speech that enhances the ways this poet used images.
Be "Reader of a Writerly Kind"
In the comments box below, write about one of your favorite images in the poem and why it appealed to you as "a reader of a writerly kind". This answer should only be 2-3 sentences. Best practices include drafting the statement using word software and posting the revised answer into the comments box below.
"I said I wouldnt dammit: No tears. Im stone. Im flesh." My clouded reflection eyes me like a bird of prey." in the first one thats how he was taught to be by the military and hes trying to stay stong for his brother that have passed.
ReplyDelete“Names shimmer on a woman’s blouse but when she walks away the names stay on the wall”. I like this line in the poem because it makes me picture how this woman is looking all of these names, but as she leaves the names are finite.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite image was when the poem said “I said I wouldnt dammit: no tears” because I hate crying, it makes me feel embarrassed. I think its just easy to relate to since I can cry about anything.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite image from this poem comes from the line that says “I turn that way- I’m inside the Vietnam Veterans Memorial again, depending on the light to make a difference.” This grabs my attention as a reader of a writerly kind because it speaks to me on a personal level. My grandfather served in Vietnam. He is one of the most strong and wonderful people that I have ever met. He is a light that makes a difference in my life and this line captures a huge part of who I am thanks to my grandfather and his service.
ReplyDeleteI really like line 19 where it says, “names shimmer on a woman’s blouse”. I think it clearly describes what the scene felt like and how solemn it must have been for him to be standing there. Also, the word “shimmer” describes really well what the memorial looked like to him.
ReplyDeleteI also really like line 5 where it says, “im stone. I'm flesh”. I think it perfectly described what this man looks like standing there in the midst of that memorial. It shows that there were two opposing sides to how he looked and how he felt at that moment.
My favorite use of imagery comes in the last three lines
ReplyDelete"In the black mirror
a woman’s trying to erase names:
No, she's brushing a boy's hair."
This shows that these names are more than just words on the memorial. These were people who lost their lives, hopes, and dreams in Vietnam. The image of brushing a boy's hair shows the tragedy of it all.
“Names shimmer on a women's blouse, but when she walks away, the names stay on the wall”. This is my favorite piece of image because it describes the names on this memorial to stay here forever, these names are engraved into this wall. Which gives the meaning that these names are so meaningful. Death is permanent, it will never leaves these walls.
ReplyDelete