... characterized by de-canonization; blur lines between high and low art., irony, indeterminacy, and metafictional; self-reflexivity. W.E.B. Du Bois "The Souls of Black Folk", and Claude McKay's "If We Must Die" are works noted during Komunyakaa's period. In the poem "Facing It" ... of word selection to emphasize his ethnicity in the opening line. In these lines the speaker repeats the word "black" twice, "My black face fades,hiding inside the black granite" (1-2), in connection both to his own skin tone and the memorial's color. By this action, Yusef ... in the presence of the memori...

• Word Count: 1172
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography

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

... 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