Facing It by Yusef Komunyakaa 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 ... '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. Several years following the Vietnam War, Yusef Komunyakaa, being a Vietnam survivor himself, writes the poem, "Facing It," allowing his emotion...

• Word Count: 665
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... times if all the people were killed. He said that he thought they were men, women and children. he recalled seeing a small boy, about three or four years old, standing by the trail with a gunshot would in one arm. The boy was clutching his wounded a rm with his other hand, while blood trickled between his fingers. He was s taring around himself in ... , if any, escaped. "Exactly what did in fact, occur in the village of "Pinkville" in March, 1968 i do not know for certain, but i am convinced that it was something very black indeed. i remain irrevocably persuaded that if you and I do trul...

• Word Count: 2984
• Approx Pages: 12
• Grade Level: High School

... the filthy homeless men who lurked these parts like dirty rats. I felt someones presence behind me, I made a slow turn as I saw an old man who had an torn robe and a black hat which had seen better days. He looked at me with his dead eye sand asked me with a very narrow damp and weak hissing voice and demanded give me some ... compassion which I hadnt seen from either parent. This is no place for a teen lie you, now go home! before I could reply he noticed my broken glasses. What happened to you boy how did your glasses brake You know the reason, my bum of a dad, well I ran away from ho...

• Word Count: 990
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School