Red's Wrap
Happiness. It's relative.
Line by Line
I’m glad for a day that has this poem in it. Yes, I could have found this poem on my own but I wouldn’t have, being in my own world as I am. So the benefit of going back to school, at the ripe age of 69, is to have this poem brought to me, next to others that I wouldn’t have otherwise read. My assignment: to explain what the poet wanted to achieve with his diction, syntax, and rhythm.
I did all that, the way I was supposed to, but in addition, I kept a little prize. I read a line I will keep forever: “No, she’s brushing a boy’s hair.”
Facing It
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 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.
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.
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.
A white vet’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.
_________________
Komunyakaa, Yusef. “Facing It,” Dien Cai Dau. Wesleyan Univesity Press, 1988.
5 Comments on “Line by Line”
Leave a Reply
Listen to Jan read her essay “Billy” presented on WUWM’s Lake Effect.
Jan’s essay “At the Breakfast Bar” on WUWM Lake Effect
Jan’s essay “The Parish Hall,” on WUWM Lake Effect May 27, 2020
“Fury Cannot Touch Me,” Modern Love, NYT, 9/29/11
It might have been NPR. About the only poetry site I frequent is Poetry Foundation so it could have been there, too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ll track it down. Thanks!
LikeLike
Excellent! Thanks for sharing!
LikeLike
I’ve had the pleasure of hearing the poet read this work. It’s even more powerful with voice. And I love the last line too. Thanks for this post.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Really? I wonder if there is a video of him reading it – I will look.
LikeLike