Poetry

So I began working in the poetry unit today.


I really enjoyed reading the following 3 poems:


My Papa's Waltz by  Theodore Roethke


Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden


Facing It by Yusef Komunyakaa


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My Favorite was "Facing It". It made a large impact on me because my Grandfather was in Vietnam. He always tries not to "face" his memories of Vietnam. He does not like to talk much about his experiences and 2 years of life in Vietnam. I respect all the brave men and women who served in Vietnam. I hope to one day visit the memorial and pay my respects to all the soldiers who fought in Vietnam.
When you read the poem, what do you get out of it?


Facing It by 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 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.