Thursday, March 17, 2011

Facing it by Yusef Komunyakaa

I have read this poem over and over and at first i thought the poem started out with giving the me (the reader) a sense of fear when he said:
"I said I wouldn't,   
dammit: No tears.   
I'm stone. I'm flesh."

These three lines at first give me the feeling that he is afraid of facing his turmoiled emotions that were developed from the war. but are these emotions from guilt or from loosing a comrade in battle? to better explain i will quote:
"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."

reading these lines leaves me with two impressions that Andrew saved his life going on ahead and setting off the trap. leaving him with the feeling that it should have been him or maybe its a traumatic event in which he can't believe he survived. so is he facing fear or guilt?

1 comment:

  1. Well, there is no need to try to construct a narrative to tie these images together--i.e., that is not given be the poem itself--but we can look at the way these image patterns interact within the poem for interpretative clues--rather than tieing that opeing image down to any particular experience, your insight that the speaker is "facing" not just the literal monument (the present moment), but also "turmoiled emotions" is a more productive line of investigation...

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