Yusef Komunyakaa’s book of poems seems to chronicle the thoughts and feelings of an African American soldier during the Vietnam War to the homefront many years later. In the poem entitled “Hanoi Hannah” it first appears to be a conversation between two people, but as one reads on it becomes evident that the soldiers are listening to a radio announcer in Vietnam. Between the commentaries from the radio announcer are depictions of war occurring in Vietnam. “Ray Charles! His voice calls from waist-high grass, & we duck behind gray sandbags.” Although it may seem like an ordinary day because the radio is on in the background, the soldiers still have to fight for their lives and carry out their war tasks. The radio announcer goes on to say, “It’s Saturday night in the States. /Guess what your woman’s doing tonight. / I think I’ll let Tina Turner tell you, you homesick GIs.” Although the men are in Vietnam fighting for their girls back home, it is made clear through the announcer’s comments that the women have moved on, but the soldiers cannot accept that because it is one of the only things that gets them through the days. As the poem progresses it becomes evident that the announcer is asking the African American soldiers why they are fighting in this war for the Americans. “You know you’re dead men, don’t you? You’re dead as King today in Memphis.” Here there is a direct reference to Martin Luther King Jr. who fought for equality, but was killed by those who thought otherwise. A few lines later the announcer again asks, “Soul Brothers, what you dying for?” The announcer in essence tells the African-American soldiers to stop fighting for a country that has not supported them.
In another poem “We Never Know” the death of a fellow soldier is chronicled. “He danced with tall grass for a moment, like he was swaying with a woman.” Here the soldier has been shot and is falling into the brush, but looks as if he was dancing. By the time the narrator could get to his fallen friend, the flies had already gotten to him. In the dead soldier’s hand was a photograph most likely of his girl back home for which he fought. Again Komunyakaa brings up the montage of the girl back home, and how the dead soldiers never got to go back to the lives they left. The last three lines of the poem conveyed a sense of loss and sadness to the reader. “I slid the wallet into his pocket & turned him over, so he wouldn’t be kissing the ground.” It seems as if the narrator tried to recover the identity of the fallen soldier by placing his wallet back into his pocket, and turned his body over as a sign of respect so that he would not face the ground but would face the heavens.
The last poem entitled “Facing It” details the experience and reactions of a Vietnam War Veteran who visits the Vietnam Memorial. In the first two lines he writes, “My black face fades, /hiding inside the black granite.” Here the narrator becomes a piece of the wall and is hiding from everything that the wall represents. He begins to cry and looks over the 58,022 names looking for his even though he is alive. As he touches Andrew Johnson’s name, he sees, “The booby trap’s white flash.” The man is reliving the pain, sadness, and death of a fellow soldier at the touch of his name. At the end of the poem the narrator talks about ordinary things such as planes flying and birds cutting his stare, but for those at the Wall who were soldiers and part of the war life will never be normal again. People have tried to erase the past but it will never go away, and only time can heal the wounds. Through this poem Komunyakaa writes about the hardships Vietnam veterans faced when they came back from the war and still face to this day.
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Yusef Komunyakaa’s book of poems seems to chronicle the thoughts and feelings of an African American soldier during the Vietnam War. The poem entitled “Hanoi Hannah” first appears to be a conversation between two people, but as one reads on it becomes evident that the soldiers are listening to a radio announcer in Vietnam. Between the commentaries from the radio announcer are depictions of war occurring in Vietnam. “Ray Charles! His voice calls from waist-high grass, & we duck behind gray sandbags.” Although it may seem like an ordinary day because the radio is on in the background, the soldiers still have to fight for their lives and carry out their war tasks. The radio announcer goes on to say, “It’s Saturday night in the States. Guess what your woman’s doing tonight. I think I’ll let Tina Turner tell you, you homesick GIs.” Although the men are in Vietnam fighting for their girls back home, it is made clear through the announcer’s comments that the women have moved on. The soldiers cannot accept that because it is one of the only things that gets them through the days. As the poem progresses it becomes evident that the announcer is asking the African American soldiers why they are fighting in this war for the Americans. “You know you’re dead men, don’t you? You’re dead as King today in Memphis.” Here there is a direct reference to Martin Luther King Jr. who fought for equality, but was killed by those who thought otherwise. A few lines later the announcer again asks, “Soul Brothers, what you dying for?” The announcer in essence tells the African-American soldiers to stop fighting for a country that has only brought prejudice and segregation.
ReplyDeleteIn another poem “We Never Know” the death of a fellow soldier is chronicled. “He danced with tall grass for a moment, like he was swaying with a woman.” Here the soldier has been shot and is falling into the brush, but looks as if he was dancing. By the time the narrator could get to his fallen friend, the flies had already gotten to him. In the dead soldier’s hand was a photograph most likely of his girl back home for which he fought. Again Komunyakaa brings up the montage of the girl back home, and how the dead soldiers never got to go back to the lives they left. The last three lines of the poem conveyed a sense of loss and sadness to the reader. “I slid the wallet into his pocket & turned him over, so he wouldn’t be kissing the ground.” It seems as if the narrator tried to recover the identity of the fallen soldier by placing his wallet back into his pocket, and turned his body over as a sign of respect so that he would not face the ground but would face the heavens.
The last poem entitled “Facing It” details the experience and reactions of an African American Vietnam War Veteran who visits the Vietnam Memorial. In the first two lines he writes, “My black face fades, hiding inside the black granite.” Here the narrator becomes a piece of the wall and is hiding from everything that the wall represents. He begins to cry and looks over the 58,022 names looking for his own even though he is alive. As he touches Andrew Johnson’s name, he sees, “The booby trap’s white flash.” The man is reliving the pain, sadness, and death of a fellow soldier at the touch of his name. At the end of the poem the narrator talks about ordinary things such as planes flying and birds cutting his stare, but for those at the Wall who were soldiers and part of the war, life will never be normal again. People have tried to erase the past but it will never go away, and only time can heal the wounds. Through this poem Komunyakaa writes about the hardships Vietnam veterans faced when they came back from the war and still face to this day.