HIT: GEN, SEC: Poem Author & Text Found

[Joanne Shawhan <shawhanj@crisny.org>]

Dear Group,

Thank you very much for finding the poem about the Vietnam War Memorial
I requested yesterday.  The web sites include the poem, information
about the poet, and other poems he has written.  My student should be
delighted.  I certainly again.  Thanks again,
Joanne

Responses:
------
I believe the poem you are looking for was written by Yusef Komunyakaa
and is titled "Facing It". One place you can find the text is at
http://dept.english.upenn.edu/~hbeavers/281/komunyakaa-facingit.html

-----
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 hird 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.
Thesky. 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.

-------
http://metalab.unc.edu/ipa/komunyakaa/facingit.html

--
Joanne Shawhan
Library Media Specialist
Cobleskill-Richmondville High School
Washington Heights
Cobleskill NY 12043

(518)234-3565 x1151 or x1149
shawhanj@crisny.org
shawhanj@crcs.k12.ny.us

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