Analysis Of My Face By Yusef Komunyakaa

Facing it reflects the author's personal experience and dread from the Vietnam War. African American poet Yusef Komunyakaa was born and raised in Bogalusa, Louisiana, which at the author’s prime time was the center for the Ku Klux Klan and then later became a key destination for the civil rights movement, these situations later on heavily influenced Komunyakaa’s writing. In 1969, he joined the army and was stationed in Vietnam, there Komunyakaa served as a war correspondent. Witnessing the bloody battles also influenced his poetry. After coming back from the war, Komunyakaa began writing poetry and then attended the University of Colorado Springs to receive a BA. Furthermore, he then earned his MA and MFA in creative writing from Colorado State University and the University of California, Irvine, respectively. Komunyakaa is known to tackle difficult subjects and hits reality and history pretty hard.

At the beginning of the poem, Komunyakaa is staring at his reflection in the granite of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. The granite wall elicits all sorts of blood-filled

images from the brutal past, stimulating terrible pain and distress. Throughout the rest of the poem, Komunyakaa concentrates on this short period of his life as an ex soldier. The poem brings to light the turmoil that the author has buried however for some reason he now decides to face his traumatizing past.
Facing it is written in free verse without a rhyme scheme and is very much in first person.

“My black face fades, hiding inside the black granite” insinuates that the author’s face isn’t the only thing hiding behind the granite, casually replaying the history and mass casualties endured unintentionally. Komunyakaa struggles to keep his feelings under control, fueling the anger as to why he survived and others did not. His irritation is clearly obvious due to the harsh way he assembled the lines, for example, in one line he states “I’m stone. I’m flesh.”, both of these statements are juxtapositions. He can not be flesh and stone at the same time however analyzing past the words, it regards his composure and how vulnerable he feels in a “stone” presence. As opposed to these statements straight up being contradictory, it just further reveals Komunyakaa’s extremes of his

consciousness.
As the granite continues to draw unwanted emotions from the author, his only option is to turn away and avoid it however wherever he goes his reflection is there. “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.”, here he shows us his uneasiness towards the memorial and his hesitation as to where he’ll go next. Although, when he turns towards the 58, 022 names his hesitation disappears and assures him a stable/solid interpretation. As he’s looking at the names, he stops at Andrew Jackson, giving the moment a concrete identity and personal relation. Andrew Jackson was also the 17th president, who which vetoed the civil rights act that gave freed slaves equal protection under the law. This means that african americans that died for their country alongside fellow white soldiers didn’t fully share equal rights, further provoking Komunyakaa’s emotions towards his face fading into the granite, as if it didn't matter.
The following lines add both violence and serenity, 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.” Komunyakaa utilizes the woman’s blouse and brushstrokes to instill a beautiful image but he cuts it short with the next lines introducing the plane in the sky. Towards the end of the poem, Komunyakaa states that he’s a “window” through which another vet sees right through him, further dissolving the author. At the end, he mistakes a mother’s actions, leading towards his ultimate understanding of human emotions.