1B: Yusef Komunyakaa (b. April 29, 1947)

Komunyakaa

IN THE FIRST WEEK of school I often encourage (ok, rant to) all of us--yes, myself included--to read the newspaper everyday.  For a class like English 1B with its focus on literature, it would seem that a newspaper would not be a necessary daily exercise for reading poetry, fiction and plays.


BUT THEN I MADE the point as I introduced Yusef Komunyakaa's poem "Facing It" (back in fall 2010) of having read the week's newspaper about broadcaster Glenn Beck and his appearance at the Lincoln Memorial. Beck's event, which he named the Restoring Honor rally, might be pertinent, however small, to the poem we were about to read. At least knowing of Beck's event on August 28, 2010, and King's ""I Have a Dream . . . " speech at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom occurring on the same day, August 28, in 1963, at the same location, would help us see the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and "Facing It," the poem that Komunyakaa has written in a political and physical context. Some things to keep in mind now. The Wall is in Washington. It is on our nation's mall. It is within view of the Washington Monument.  It is next to the Lincoln Memorial. It is across the Potomac River from the Arlington Cemetery, which holds more than 400,000 bodies from the United States and eleven countries. It has the tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  It is our history.  None of these are insignificant things when considering what Komunyakaa has written.

Then, by coincidence, yes, unplanned when I put the class syllabus together, that on September 23, 2015, we would read Komunyakaa's "Facing It," once more. It turned out that our reading of it was the same morning that Pope Francis visits Washington and addresses a Joint Session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol. The Capitol, at the east end of the mall, is a walk of less than three miles from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Knowing something of this intersection of history and architecture, politics and religion, adds a richness for readers as they read Komunyakaa's "Facing It." Is Pope Francis, in his speech to Congress, raising some of the same themes as Komunyakaa? I think so, but you decide for yourself. Here's the transcript of his speech and a video (CC) of it. 

Komunyakaa's "Facing It" has straightforward political and historical components, yet it is a work of art that is intricate, not easily understood and personal.  It is singular to one person, but not of one place, nor one time. This person's experience that Komunyakaa describes, and considering the poet's biography it is probably his experience, occurs as he stands before the memorial. 

Others are present at the Wall, but it is a moment opposite to attending a rally or a demonstration.  A crowd's frenzy is not imparting its force on one person; instead, one person has the authority to contemplate, to pray, and be alone, for someone who has died. For a moment the person at the Wall and even the reader are free to think their own thoughts, let their mind wander across landscapes fixed and ghostly, upon an innocent face with unkempt hair, and with charged reluctance, emote. The poem's speaker remains there to honor the dead; it is a liturgical self-expression created and delivered by one. The solitary experience of the poet and other visitors to the Wall may reach a shared consensus with others, but it is of no matter whether they are ever present at the same site where Komunyakaa and other visitors have stood before. 

The memorial's designer Maya Lin might have been anticipating what Komunyakaa explores in his poem when she recalls the complexity and controversy of its design and building that she recalls in "Making the Memorial" for The New York Review of Books. "What is," Lin has asked, "a memorial's purpose?" Can we accept death? she wonders. These are questions Komunyakaa is asking too. Though Komunyakaa was not, as far as I know, vilified for writing his poem, Lee was condemned for her design. In the documentary Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision we see her occupying a world where there is a fierce crowd pressing its force down on her. It is a demonstration or a rally she has no control over. All she can do is do what she does alone. The same for Komunyakaa, as well. They sit at tables and work. They can look out their windows.  At children.  At widows. They grieve. Lin's achievement and Komunyakaa's achievement permit us to do what they do: step away from the crowd and see and consider the thing we choose on most days to ignore. There it is at the Wall. Many have passed before us. We can accept it. Or not.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is on the lower left, next to the Lincoln Memorial.

A war's  madness and death yield a steady, unforgiving grief.  This is something that Komunyakaa examines as he recalls his record of service during the Vietnam War.  During "the late 1960s,"  The Poetry Foundation reports that "Komunyakaa served as a correspondent for Army publications in Vietnam. Although he uses images from this experience in many of his works, the poet deals directly with the war in his collection Dien Cai Dau. The title means 'crazy' in Vietnamese and was used by locals to refer to American soldiers fighting in their country. In the opinion of Kirkland C. Jones, 'Komunyakaa's Vietnam poems rank with the best on that subject. He focuses on the mental horrors of war—the anguish shared by the soldiers, those left at home to keep watch, and other observers, participants, objectors, who are all part of the 'psychological terrain.'

"In these poems of Vietnam, Komunyakaa uses his characteristic style to tangle together the natural and the man-made, the Southeast Asian landscape and the war. In the words of Bloomsbury Review contributor Samuel Maio, 'Komunyakaa, through his simple and vernacular diction, his evocative images and chronicled experiences, successfully provides us with glimpses into the mind of a dien cai dau, often quite aptly named, the insanity of Vietnam measuring against (and similarly affecting) its principles, as these terrifying poems—drawn by the precise hand of an unerring craftsman—make so strikingly clear.' Koestenbaum remarks that the poet's casual juxtaposition of nature and war belie the artistry at work."

Because of his prominence as a poet, Komunyakaa, who has also taught writing and literature at universities across the United States, has been featured in many publications. BOMB magazine (an unfortunate or ironic magazine title that will feature a poet writing about war) joined poet Paul Muldoon in conversation with Komunyakaa, and Ploughshares profiled Komunyakaa. In addition to the The Poetry Foundation's discussion of him and his work, The Academy of American Poets and Modern American Poetry pages on Komunyakaa are also quite informative. There are many videos on the web of Kumunyakaa reading his poetry.  Watch him read "Facing It," below.