FACING IT

By: Samantha Haynes and Marisa Ebron

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 meLike a bird of prey, the profile of the nightSlanted against morning

I turn this way—the stone lets me

go.

I turn that way—I’m inside

The Vietnam 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..

“ Dien , Dau. "Facing It." Poets.org. Academy of American Poets, n.d. Web. 15 Nov2012.

<http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15830>.

We got the poem” Facing It” by Yusef komunyakaa from this website. We were able to print out this poem and illustrate it.

"Yusef Komunyakaa." Poets.org. Academy of American Poets, n.d. Web. 15 Nov 2011.<http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/22>.

From this website, we were able to get information about the author.

"

BIBLIOGRAPHY

"Facing It, An Analysis of the Poem." BookRags. BookRags, n.d. Web. 15 Nov 2012.

<http://www.bookrags.com/essay-2004/9/26/223031/974/>.This poem gave us a summary and a good understanding of

thepoem.

"Facing It, by Yusef Komunyakaa." techers'domain. Teachers Domain, n.d. Web. 15 Nov 2012.

<http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/pe08.rla.genre.poetry.komunfacin/>.

From this website, we were able to get information on why the author wrote the poem.

BIBLIOGRAPHY