Facing It - Another Look at Image
https://youtu.be/90yxqlVrLP8
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.
Yusef Komunyakaa, “Facing It” from Pleasure Dome: New and Collected Poems. Copyright © 2001 by Yusef Komunyakaa. Reprinted with the permission of Wesleyan University Press.
Source: Pleasure Dome: New and Collected Poems (Wesleyan University Press, 2001)
Source: Pleasure Dome: New and Collected Poems (Wesleyan University Press, 2001)
Discussion Questions:
Identify the images used in this poem. You may refer to chapter 2 of Imaginative Writing and your class partner (s) for assistance.
- Consider how to the images in this poem appeal to the senses of the reader.
- Identify at least two concrete, significant details.
- Identify one figure of speech that enhances the ways this poet used images.
Be "Reader of a Writerly Kind"
In the comments box below, write about one of your favorite images in the poem and why it appealed to you as "a reader of a writerly kind". This answer should only be 2-3 sentences. Best practices include drafting the statement using word software and posting the revised answer into the comments box below.
"In the black mirror
ReplyDeletea woman’s trying to erase names:
No, she's brushing a boy's hair."
As this is stated at the end of the poem, it tells not of a woman trying to vandalize the wall, but a mother who has lost her son. This speaks out to me because it shows multiple points of view with just one sentence. It allows the reader to relate more to the poem and feel a closer relationship to the reading by providing a visual of his visit to the wall and how others are reacting to and with it.
"A white vet's image floats
Deletecloser to me, then his pale eyes
look through mine. I'm a window"
"I go down the 58,022 names,
half-expecting to find
my own in letters like smoke"
“I go down the 58,022 names,
ReplyDeletehalf-expecting to find
my own in letters like smoke. “
He sees so many names it is so hard to point out his own. The wall brings back memories and sadness while looking at these 58,022 names. He is very exact with the number of names which shows how much he cares and his time spent at this wall.
My clouded reflection eyes me.
ReplyDeleteIm able to imagine him looking at all the names on the stone yet seeing his cloudy reelection staring back at him.
Micah Pittman
ReplyDelete“My clouded reflection eyes me
like a bird of prey, the profile of night
slanted against morning”
“I touch the name Andrew Johnson;
I see the booby trap's white flash.”
"In the black mirror
ReplyDeletea woman’s trying to erase names:
No, she's brushing a boy's hair."
I liked this the most because it shows another point of view besides the narrator's own, and it's a sentence with a complex meaning.
Anthony Nguyen
ReplyDelete"In the black mirror
a woman’s trying to erase names:
No, she's brushing a boy's hair."
I like this form of imagery, because I can visually see a mother that lost her son. It shows that the memorial is one huge image. We all see it different, perspectives. The wall is not just names, it's memories.
"I touch the name Andrew Johnson;
ReplyDeleteI 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."
This entire section is one I love because the poet is being creative in the way that he's reminiscing in his memories. He's using brushstroke imagery to depict what he sees in his mind's eye (his memory/trauma) when he turns to look at a specific name. What memory he associates with the name.
In the poem the line ,"Names shimmer on a woman's blouse
ReplyDeletebut when she walks away
the names stay on the wall." Really stood out to me. I can picture what the author means when he says he watched the names almost reflect on someone else but when she walked away the were still on the wall.
Avery Gulgren
DeleteI go down the 58,022 names,
ReplyDeletehalf-expecting to find
my own in letters like smoke.
This line really has meaning to me because this person has clearly seen and felt so much death. He expects to die and he is incredibly scared that his name will be just a name like the rest. The smoke also alludes to war and how vivid smoke is in his mind.
I go down the 58,022 names
ReplyDeleteI said I wouldn't
dammit: No tears.
I feel with these lines it shows a lot as how much went on and how many people lost their life’s when you read these its hard to even comprehend what had happened and truly how sad it is.
"I go down the 58,022 names" This puts it into perspective of how many people were truly affected.
ReplyDelete"My clouded reflection eyes me
ReplyDeletelike a bird of prey, the profile of night
slanted against morning. I turn
this way—the stone lets me go. "
This line really sticks out to me because it refers to him seeing himself and feeling guilty for not being one of the people who died. He sees the names and his reflection in them, maybe referring to the fact that he feels like he should have been there. When he turns away the pain also goes with him.
“Dammit. No tears. I’m stone. I’m flesh” This line creates juxtaposition between the two words stone and flesh. The writer wants to stay strong, to not be emotional, to act like the war didn’t affect him. The war did affect him, though. We are human, and trauma can bring out our human emotions no matter how thick we think our skin is. The war was rough on a lot of vets, and seeing the wall very well can trigger past depressing emotions.
ReplyDeleteCatie Scola
Delete"in THE black mirror a women's trying to erase names no shes brushing a boys hair"
ReplyDeletei think that this line right here can be taken in a lot of ways but it's a very precise sentence that speaks out to me. i feel like a lot of people can relate to this line and actual feel an emotional connection with it.
"I touch the name Andrew Johnson;
ReplyDeleteI see the booby trap's white flash"
It is clear that the way Andrew Johnson passed away was from a booby trap even though the poet didn't explicitly say that.
“I’m stone” he says he is stone because he is emotionless.
ReplyDelete"Brushstrokes flash, a red bird's
ReplyDeletewings cutting across my stare."
This image I would say is my favorite in the poem because it creates such a specific image. The words "flash" and "red" both mean aggressive things (movement and color). This shows that whatever happened in this scene was quick, intense, and aggressive, reflecting the mood of the whole poem and the attitude of the narrator.
My favorite piece of imagery in this poem is “ the stone let’s me go.” I think this piece is very deep because we all know stone is almost impossible to move. So for it to let you go it huge. I do not completely understand the meaning of it in the poem but the line itself is very deep.
ReplyDeleteKeili Martin
“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.”
ReplyDeleteThis part of the poem appealed to me most because I am someone who is fascinated by History and this is giving those emotions, those small moments from something of the past and it allows me to almost feel it through reading the poem. It appeals to me because it peaks my interest.
Jackson Klein
"A woman trying to erase names,
ReplyDeleteNo shes brushing a boys hair"
Its not a woman trying to erase the past, or still in the phase of denial. This woman has dealt with this death for a while, and has been able to grieve healthily. This doesnt make the death any less painful for her, but she has accepted it, and instead of trying to "erase the name" and bring him back, she is taking care of his name, doing what she probably did when he was alive.
“ Names shimmer on a woman's blouse
ReplyDeletebut when she walks away
the names stay on the wall.”
I love the scene this paints and the meaning behind this. As the woman is able to leave the wall those names will never. They represent the lives lost and those people can never leave the wall. As people come and go they will remain. It places such a solemn feeling. A reminder of the permanence of death.
“ I go down the 58,022 names” this creates the image of a small city for me. In reference to my hometown this is about double our population. I imagine going throughout the city and trying to find the correct person that the person is looking for.
ReplyDelete“a red bird’s wings cutting across my stare.” It stood out because a red bird is kind of hard to miss, especially as it comes right into your view. Red birds are signs of peace in my opinion, they’re like a charm. It’s a sign of all those who were lost but the fact that their at rest now. Then with the line following about a plane in the sky, once again relating back to the time in Vietnam in modern times.
ReplyDeleteMadelyn Curriera
DeleteMy favorite image from the poem is “I go down the 58,022 names,/half-expecting to find/my own in letters like smoke.” I see the speaker running his finger down each of the thousands of names on the memorial wall, remembering his experience as he does. The image of “letters like smoke” also speaks to me because smoke is often a product of war but smoke is also something that fades away; it’s as if the speaker feels like he is a product of war that is slowly drifting away into oblivion.
ReplyDeleteNames shimmer on a womens blouse but when she walks away the names stay on the wall. Was my favorite piece of imagery in the poem because I like how shows how death is so final, and there is going back. The women was able to walk away but the names on the wall will never be able to leave and will never be able to see there family and friends again.
ReplyDelete"I go down the 58,022 names,
ReplyDeletehalf-expecting to find
my own in letters like smoke."
These lines paint the image in my head of what the narrator is feeling in this moment. The narrator seems to have some sort of internal battle going on. I interpreted these lines as that is is in a fog since experiencing traumatic events and he lost who he was in Vietnam.
"In the black mirror
ReplyDeletea woman’s trying to erase names:
No, she's brushing a boy's hair."
This image stuck with me the most because I can fully picture these lines in my head. I think that it shows 2 different perspectives at first he sees what he wants to see which is someone also trying to forgot a terrible memory in his life, but then he reality where he is reminded that a mother lost her son.
“I touch the name Andrew Johnson, I see the booby traps white flag.” I love this because it really shows and tells you that all of these names have a such a different and unique background and circumstances but they’re all coming together for one cause. “Names a shimmer on a woman’s blouse but when she walks away the names stay on the wall.” This isn so neat to me because a lot of people including their wives lost their family members. They’ll never get them back.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite images about this poem is when it said, “My black face fades, hiding inside the black granite”. That image is my favorite because it emphasizes how peoples image is left in the wall of death.
ReplyDelete"Names shimmer on a woman's blouse
ReplyDeletebut when she walks away
the names stay on the wall."
I like the image this line creates. It helps you understand and visualize exactly what the author is seeing. The movement of the women is shown in the reflection of the black granite that was mentioned in the second line. It kind of shows that the memorial is a concrete thing that's not going to be moved but life around it is still moving and going on.
"My black face fades, hiding inside the black granite" When he reads this line in the poem, I could see the image perfectly. Black granite has so many little element in each rock and I think in some way I think he's referring to those that were lost by the Vietnam war.
ReplyDelete“Names shimmer on a woman’s blouse, but when she walks away, the names stay on the wall.”
ReplyDeleteNo matter what people do or say these names will always be permanent, because they have now passed away. Many people will walk by this wall daily, but the names will never fade.
“ I'm a window.
ReplyDeleteHe'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.“
I feel as if this line provides a sense of comfort. A mother trying to cope with the lost of her son. The last time “No, she’s brushing a boy’s hair”, the image of brushing her sons hair can be corresponded to a mothers love and care at childhood and how even though her son passed, her comfort and love never ends.
"A white vet's image floats
ReplyDeletecloser to me, then his pale eyes
look through mine. I'm a window.
He's lost his right arm
inside the stone."
This paints a picture of a ghost. It shows the loss and heavy history associated with the memorial. Our speaker is standing there physically, but there is a presence much bigger than himself lingering. That where the window analogy comes in. He is a transparent object in comparison to the solid stone wall of memories. Our speaker is temporary in the grand scheme, whereas the stone wall will stand there forever as a reminder of the lives lost.
"I see the booby traps white flash". This appealed to me because it paints a picture in my mind about what the booby trap looked like. I could tell that it was a grenade because of the "white flash".
ReplyDelete"Brushstrokes flash, a red bird's wings cutting across my stare". I am not really sure what this means, but I'm assuming it has something to do about blood. The author probably saw blood during his time in vietnam.
Alison Belford:
ReplyDelete"I go down the 58,022 names, half expecting to find my own letters like smoke" He remembers his past time served in the war and imagines it would've killed him too like the other 58,022 people.
"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. I'm a window." This part represents the trauma someone receives from war. No one understands the experience of the horrors of war, which is a permanent experience that not many others have. His PTSD gets the best of him as the images from Vietnam come back to him.
The imagery of the white flash of the booby traps and the plane really brings up how lasting the war and everything he saw. The images remind him and take him back to when he was in the war and his trauma kind of comes back to him giving that there will always be a long lasting effect of these things.
ReplyDeleteI said I wouldn't
ReplyDeletedammit: No tears.
I'm stone. I'm flesh.
My clouded reflection eyes me
like a bird of prey
These lines stand out to me because he ties in the stone from the memorial. My clouded reflection eyes me like bird of prey- like he is preying on himself, he is just a body no emotion no feeling just living in this moment not feeling the moment.
"Names shimmer on a woman's blouse
ReplyDeleteBut when she walks away
the names stay on the wall"
The lives of those names, they made choices to protect the people to approach it today. The ability to gaze upon lives previous to ours, knowing that they can stand there because of them, affects everyone in a specific way. Those lives on the wall have lived, no matter for how long. The names of the living, hopefully thankful and gracious of such actions.
"Names shimmer on a woman's blouse but when she walks away the names stay on the wall."
ReplyDeleteThis line exhibits the finality of death. A hidden contrast is the woman's blouse and the finality of death. The woman, specifically her blouse, represents birth and life, while the names represent death. This line honors the sacrifice these men have made, giving their lives so that many more can come after.
My favorite use of imagery used in the poem would have to be “I’m stone. I’m flesh.” Because it shows how the writer is trying to stay strong and not show emotion but ultimately is made of flesh and is weak and soft.
ReplyDelete“The sky. A plane in the sky. A white vet’s image floats closer to me, then his pale eyes look through mine.” Originally reading this I liked the fact that he’s giving each name on the wall a story. But the more I read it over, the more the meaning of that statement changes. First, you don’t know if he’s talking about a ghost or an actual person and secondly he’s playing on race. He used the term “pale eyes” to reference the persons eyes, but you don’t know if he’s saying “pale eyes” to reference a ghosts eyes or a white persons eyes. It hints at the racial discrimination that happens in America. Lastly, i love how him walking through the names, is not just names to him. As he looks at each name, it creates an image in his head.
ReplyDelete"Names shimmer on a woman's blouse
ReplyDeletebut when she walks away
the names stay on the wall."
This piece really spoke to me because it showed how permanent death really is, and it really put things into perspective for me. It reminds us of our own mortality and how we all won't live forever.
A white vet's image floats
ReplyDeletecloser to me, then his pale eyes
look through mine. I'm a window.
He's lost his right arm.
These four lines really stood out to me and implanted an image in my mind. It seems to me that the memories he carries along with him from the Vietnam war are triggered by his brethren’s names. As he reads the names off of the wall. It is also clear he is talking about himself at some point in his life as the wall off vets names are reflective and he describes himself as a window. While he emphasizes his black masculinity I think the image he is proposing to the reader is a close connection with all veterans no matter what their skin color is. The window portion is what interested me the most implementing a feeling that he is still there (in Vietnam) when the white vet is looking at him. Again could this white vet be a real image seen through PTSD or is it a ghostly figure that he feels the presence of.
"A white vets image floats closer to me, then his pale eyes look through mine. Im a window. He lost his right arm inside the stone."
ReplyDeleteThis stood out to me because I feel like it reflects on race and the similarities the vet and Yusef share at the stone. Reflecting upon how the white vet lost his arm to the stone portrays death of those who lost their life to the stone as well of those who lost apart of themself mentally and physically during the war.
"I go down the 58,022 names" I've seen this memorial in person, my father showed me the name of my great grandfathers best friend that died in the war. I've also seen my father look at other memorials and look at his friends names who have died. I can visualize the pain he felt because I've seen it myself when looking at my own father.
ReplyDeleteJasmine Wright
Delete"My clouded reflection eyes me like a bird of prey,". The image I saw was that their reflection is starring at themselves but they can not really recognize themselves.
ReplyDelete"His pale eyes/look through mine"
ReplyDeleteYusef uses visual imagery to paint a picture of the white veteran
"I'm a window"
This metaphor expresses his self perception at the memorial wall
"Black face fades"
Yusef uses alliteration to establish the poem's musicality as well as the veteran blending into the memorial
I turn
ReplyDeletethis 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.
- This was one of my favorite images in the poem because it made me have sympathy for him. It showed me how as he looks at the memorial he feels as if hes "trapped" in it and he cant escape the trauma and the flashbacks that he is having while looking at his reflection.
“My black face fades, hiding inside the black granite.”
ReplyDelete“A white vet’s image floats closer to me, then his pale eyes look through mine.”
I think that the poet touches on his journey as being a Black man through imagery in these two lines. In the first one the poet explains how he blends into the black granite, which can be seen as a reference to the Black experience while being a veteran. Komunyaka also refers to a white veteran and how his “pale eyes look through his.” This example could be seen as reference to a ghost or to the fact that he has felt unseen as a Black veteran.
My favorite line was “I see the booby’s trap white flash.” Because it was almost like a flashback to the war and it shows how much the writer was affected by it, that he lives with it forever now. It’s not something you can bring yourself to peace with, so the images are still in his head and going to the memorial brought back memories but also brought back peace.
ReplyDelete“My clouded reflection eyes me like a bird of prey, the profile of night slanted against morning.” This was my favorite image because of how detailed and vivid it is. Through this line the reader experiences exactly how the author feels in that moment staring at his own reflection and the immense guilt he’s feeling as he reads the names.
ReplyDelete