Yusef Komunyakaa published "Facing It" in his 1988 collection Dien Cai Dau. Komunyakaa was inspired to write the poem following a visit to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial some 14 years after his time as a soldier in the Vietnam War. The poem deals with the speaker's struggle to confront traumatic wartime memories while looking at his reflection in the memorial's shiny surface and staring at the names of fallen soldiers. Couched within this is a meditation on race, as the speaker (who is Black) feels as if his face blends into the memorial's dark granite—a metaphor for American society's unwillingness to fully acknowledge the sacrifice Black soldiers made for their country at a time when the U.S. still deprived them of so many fundamental rights.

• Read the full text of “Facing It”

• “Facing It” Summary

• “Facing It” Themes

  • 

    The Trauma of War

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-31
  • 

    "Facing" Emotional Pain

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 3-5
    • Lines 8-12
    • Lines 14-18
  • 

    The Black Veteran Experience

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2
    • Lines 14-21
    • Lines 25-31

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Facing It”

  • Lines 1-5

    My black face ...
    ... stone. I'm flesh.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 6-8

    My clouded reflection ...
    ... slanted against morning.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 8-13

    I turn ...
    ... make a difference.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 14-18

    I go down ...
    ... trap's white flash.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 19-24

    Names shimmer on ...
    ... in the sky.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 25-29

    A white vet's ...
    ... inside the stone.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 29-31

    In the black ...
    ... a boy's hair.

    

    

    

    

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• “Facing It” Symbols

  • 

    The War Memorial

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2
    • Lines 5-21
    • Lines 25-31

• “Facing It” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “face,” “fades”
    • Line 7: “prey,” “profile”
    • Line 9: “this,” “the”
    • Line 11: “Vietnam,” “Veterans,” “Memorial”
    • Line 12: “depending”
    • Line 13: “make,” “difference”
    • Line 14: “down,” “58,022”
    • Line 15: “find”
    • Line 16: “letters,” “like”
    • Line 18: “booby,” “white”
    • Line 19: “shimmer,” “woman's,” “blouse”
    • Line 20: “but,” “when,” “she,” “walks”
    • Line 21: “wall”
    • Line 22: “Brushstrokes,” “bird's”
    • Line 23: “wings,” “stare”
    • Line 24: “sky,” “sky”
    • Line 25: “white”
    • Line 26: “me”
    • Line 27: “mine,” “window”
    • Line 29: “black”
    • Line 30: “names”
    • Line 31: “No,” “brushing,” “boy's”

  • Assonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where assonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “face,” “fades”
    • Line 2: “hiding,” “inside,” “granite”
    • Line 3: “I”
    • Line 4: “dammit”
    • Line 5: “I'm”
    • Line 6: “My,” “eyes”
    • Line 7: “like,” “profile,” “night”
    • Line 9: “stone,” “go”
    • Line 10: “I'm,” “inside”
    • Line 11: “Veterans,” “Memorial”
    • Line 12: “again,” “depending”
    • Line 13: “make”
    • Line 14: “58,022,” “names”
    • Line 15: “expecting,” “find”
    • Line 16: “my,” “own,” “letters,” “like,” “smoke”
    • Line 18: “see,” “booby,” “trap's,” “flash”
    • Line 19: “Names”
    • Line 20: “away”
    • Line 21: “stay”
    • Line 23: “my”
    • Line 24: “sky”
    • Line 25: “floats”
    • Line 26: “closer,” “eyes”
    • Line 27: “mine,” “I'm,” “window”
    • Line 30: “erase,” “names”

  • Consonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where consonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “face fades”
    • Line 2: “hiding inside,” “granite”
    • Lines 3-4: “wouldn't / dammit”
    • Line 4: “tears”
    • Line 5: “stone,” “flesh”
    • Line 6: “clouded reflection”
    • Line 7: “prey,” “profile”
    • Line 8: “slanted against,” “turn”
    • Line 9: “stone lets”
    • Line 10: “turn”
    • Line 11: “Vietnam Veterans”
    • Line 12: “depending”
    • Line 13: “difference”
    • Line 14: “down,” “58,022”
    • Line 15: “half-expecting,” “find”
    • Line 16: “letters like smoke”
    • Line 17: “touch”
    • Line 18: “booby trap's white flash”
    • Line 19: “Names shimmer”
    • Lines 19-20: “woman's blouse / but when she walks away”
    • Line 21: “names stay,” “wall”
    • Line 22: “Brushstrokes flash”
    • Lines 22-23: “red bird's / wings cutting across”
    • Line 23: “stare”
    • Line 24: “sky,” “sky”
    • Line 28: “lost”
    • Line 29: “inside,” “stone,” “black mirror”
    • Line 30: “woman’s”
    • Line 31: “brushing,” “boy's”

  • Sibilance

    

    

    

    

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    Where sibilance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “face,” “fades”
    • Line 2: “inside”
    • Line 3: “said”
    • Line 4: “tears”
    • Line 5: “stone,” “flesh”
    • Line 6: “reflection,” “eyes”
    • Line 8: “slanted,” “against”
    • Line 9: “this,” “stone,” “lets”
    • Line 10: “inside”
    • Line 11: “Veterans”
    • Line 13: “difference”
    • Line 14: “names”
    • Line 15: “expecting”
    • Line 16: “letters,” “smoke”
    • Line 17: “Johnson”
    • Line 18: “see,” “trap's,” “flash”
    • Line 19: “Names,” “shimmer,” “woman's,” “blouse”
    • Line 20: “she,” “walks”
    • Line 21: “names,” “stay”
    • Line 22: “Brushstrokes,” “flash,” “bird's”
    • Line 23: “wings,” “across,” “stare”
    • Line 24: “sky”
    • Line 25: “vet's,” “floats”
    • Line 26: “closer,” “eyes”
    • Line 28: “He's,” “lost”
    • Line 29: “inside,” “stone”
    • Line 30: “woman’s,” “erase,” “names”
    • Line 31: “she's,” “brushing,” “boy's”

  • Repetition

    

    

    

    

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    Where repetition appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “black”
    • Line 2: “black”
    • Lines 8-9: “I turn / this way”
    • Line 10: “I turn that way”
    • Line 14: “names”
    • Line 17: “name”
    • Line 18: “flash”
    • Line 19: “Names”
    • Line 21: “names”
    • Line 22: “flash”
    • Line 24: “The sky,” “the sky”

  • Caesura

    

    

    

    

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    Where caesura appears in the poem:

    • Line 4: “dammit: No”
    • Line 5: “stone. I'm”
    • Line 7: “prey, the”
    • Line 8: “morning. I”
    • Line 9: “way—the”
    • Line 10: “way—I'm”
    • Line 12: “again, depending”
    • Line 22: “flash, a”
    • Line 24: “sky. A”
    • Line 26: “me, then”
    • Line 27: “mine. I'm”
    • Line 29: “stone. In”
    • Line 31: “No, she's”

  • Metaphor

    

    

    

    

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    Where metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Line 5: “I'm stone.”
    • Lines 7-8: “the profile of night / slanted against morning.”
    • Lines 10-12: “I'm inside / the Vietnam Veterans Memorial / again”
    • Lines 19-21: “Names shimmer on a woman's blouse / but when she walks away / the names stay on the wall.”
    • Lines 22-24: “Brushstrokes flash, a red bird's / wings cutting across my stare. / The sky. A plane in the sky.”
    • Line 27: “I'm a window.”
    • Lines 28-29: “He's lost his right arm / inside the stone.”
    • Lines 29-31: “In the black mirror / a woman’s trying to erase names: / No, she's brushing a boy's hair.”

  • Simile

    

    

    

    

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    Where simile appears in the poem:

    • Lines 6-7: “My clouded reflection eyes me / like a bird of prey”
    • Lines 14-16: “I go down the 58,022 names, / half-expecting to find / my own in letters like smoke.”

  • Allusion

    

    

    

    

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    Where allusion appears in the poem:

    • Line 14: “I go down the 58,022 names”
    • Line 17: “I touch the name Andrew Johnson”

• “Facing It” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Bird of Prey
  • Profile
  • Vietnam Veterans Memorial
  • Andrew Johnson
  • Booby trap
  • Vet
  • (Location in poem: Lines 6-7: “eyes me / like a bird of prey”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Facing It”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Facing It” Speaker

• “Facing It” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Facing It”

• More “Facing It” Resources

  • External Resources

    • The Vietnam Veterans Memorial — Learn more about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

    • Komunyakaa on Violence and Racism — Listen to Yusef Komunyakaa speak about the valorization of violence alongside the role racism plays on the U.S. national psyche. 

    • The Vietnam War — A wealth of information about the Vietnam War in an accessible, well-organized format.

    • Yusef Komunyakaa Reads "Facing It" — Listen to the author read "Facing It" aloud.

    • Komunyakaa's Biography — For more information about Yusef Komunyakaa, take a look at this overview of his life and work.

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