Poem for Veterans Day: Facing It by Yusef Komunyakaa My black face fades, hiding inside the black granite. I said I wouldnt, dammit: No tears. Im stone. Im 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--Im 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 traps white flash. Names shimmer on a womans blouse but when she walks away the names stay on the wall. Brushstrokes flash, a red birds wings cutting across my stare. The sky. A plane in the sky. A white vets image floats closer to me, then his pale eyes look through mine. Im a window. Hes lost his right arm inside the stone. In the black mirror a womans trying to erase names: No, shes brushing a boys hair. - See more at: poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15830#sthash.XRys4zni.dpuf
Posted on: Fri, 08 Nov 2013 19:06:45 +0000
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