Yusef Komunyakaa Analysis

Yusef Komunyakaa gives impressive and detailed view on every poem of the Vietnam War’s events as he experienced in his US Army service. Two of the poems that show the vivid experience of the war are “Losses” and “Facing It.” Both these poems help the reader understand and visualize of what the war had caused. It also shows how haunted he is by the Vietnam experience, however he is not brutalized or desensitized. In the first poem “Losses” he seems to be lost. The poem starts with “After Nam he lost himself..” (page 61) As it continues it says that he does not trust himself around his loved ones because he might hurt them. He lost his girlfriend since she did not like the new person that came back from war. Not understanding that he was risking …show more content…
When Komunyakaa looked at himself at the black granite his faced dissolved when he stares. He struggles to maintain his feelings, he is frustrated as he says “I said I wouldn’t dammit: No tears…. My clouded reflection eyes me like a bird of prey.” As Komunyakaa sees his reflection he goes through each name and says” I go down the 58,022 names, half-expecting to find my own in letters like smoke.” It affected him hoping to see his name because half of him is dead and it also shows how other veterans themselves will feel. His only escape from feeling hurt is to turn away from the black granite. But no matter where he turns, his reflection follows him. Komunyakaa shows vivid images of women's suffering and care of those who they lost. For example, “Names shimmer on a woman’s blouse but when she walks away the names stay on the wall.” Meaning that the person will forever be in her heart. Also “In the black mirror a woman’s trying to erase names: No, she’s brushing a boy’s hair.” He mistakes what the woman is doing. However the woman might hoped that when she erased the name her son might still be alive. Unfortunately he’s not, so she is showing motherly tenderness by brushing the boy’s

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Yusef Komunyakaa Analysis