Yusef Komunyakaa Analysis

In September, I attended Yusef Komunyakaa’s poetry reading. My main purpose for attending this event was because I am required to attend a literary event for another course. I chose this event specially because in my poetry class we were currently studying Komunyakaa’s work and I thoroughly enjoyed many of his poems. The event began with a current student’s introduction on Yusef Komunyakaa. I was unimpressed by her introduction, to say the least. She seemed to have difficulty connecting to the audience as she rarely looked up from her written speech. The you woman continuously stumbled over her words as if she had not read the introduction before that moment. She closed the introduction with a reference to Komunyakaa’s “Facing It”, but I saw no tie between her commentary on the poem and the introduction she was giving. This started the …show more content…
Hearing him read the poems aloud rather than reading them for myself gave me a new view and understanding of the message Komunyakaa was trying to convey. Yusef Komunyakaa’s style is heavily influenced by jazz music. He uses jazz-like rhythms to create a music-like quality in his poems. The impact of the music-like rhythms is somewhat lost on paper. By hearing Yusef read his poems aloud I was moved more immensely. These rhythms created often parallel the tone of the piece to more strongly illustrate a specific meaning. For instance, in Komunyakaa’s poem “Facing It”, the opening lines read, “My black face fades, hiding inside the black granite. I said I wouldn’t, dammit: No tears. I’m stone. I’m flesh.” By using short, choppy lines a harsh mood is automatically created. It is clear by the simple sentences that the speaker is experiencing difficulties, opposed to happiness which most likely would be created by longer, easy-flowing lines. Komunyakaa read his poems much harsher than I had read them to myself. This difference made a significant impact on how I interpreted his