Yusef Komunyakaa Books

Yusef Komunyakaa uses such beautiful language to describe the horrors of war that it draws the reader in allowing us to almost see and feel what these young men experienced in the frightening and chaotic days of Vietnam. This work is written with intense emotion and love. It should be read by every American.

Dien Cai Dau by Yusef Komunyakaa is an artistic display of visual imagery through his writing. Komunyakaa's graphic depictions and strong language stem from emotionally charged subjects and lend themselves unselfishly to the works in this book. Since Komunyakaa served in the Vietnam War as a wartime correspondent, his ties to the detail and imagery that he displays in this book are unquestionable. The author allows the reader a safe passage back to the time and place of one of the most tragic wars in American history by painting individual pictures through each one of his poems. Komunyakaa gives the reader an opportunity to experience the knee-buckling power that war lends to a man's life. The chance to understand what might have been going through someone's head at that time and place is too good to pass up, even if you are not a war poetry fan.

There is more to Dien Cai Dau than just war. In this book of poetry, there is both powerful and graceful imagery. The poetry may depict a harsh or solemn scene; however, the imagery allows the reader to experience that scene to the fullest extent. Take for example this excerpt from "Roll Call"- "The perfect row aligned/with the chaplain's cross/ while a metallic-gray squadron/ of sea gulls circled" (p.15, 10-13). The poem that this image comes from is referring to a respect filled tradition that each platoon had of calling roll for those soldiers who had fallen in battle. The "metallic-gray squadron/ of sea gulls" (12-13) lends the notion of a fly-by of military planes, which is often done to honor those who have passed away or to commemorate a special occasion. Allowing nature, in this case the sea gulls, to honor those who fight to protect the land and rights of those who cannot protect themselves gives this poem a powerful meaning.
Another image that the author paints in our minds is that of the veteran after the war has ended. "Sometimes I can hear them/ marching through the house, /closing the distance. All/ those lonely beds take me back" (16-19). These lines allow the reader not only to see what a veteran would see, but also see why a veteran would not share his past as the author states in lines 13-15. It is with this type of imagery the author gives the reader a glimpse into the mind, heart and soul of a soldier who has been in war.

The type imagery displayed in "Roll Call" is rampant amongst the poems in this book. The demonstration of artistic writing and imagination that Komunyakaa shows in Dien Cai Dau is incredible. There are those who have never seen war and write as if they had, Komunyakaa lived this experience which allows him to put his visions of the battle field and of the somber results on the pages of his book. The strong imagery, life and emotion that Komunyakaa shows in this book are what make this book of poetry so fantastic.

The poetic memoirs of Yusef Komunyakaa in the book "Dien Cai Dau" are based upon the poet's various experiences overseas during the Vietnam War. "Dien Cai Dau" is a superb collection of wartime poetry. Yusef Komunyakaa is a Pulitzer Prize winning author who served in the Vietnam War as a correspondent and editor for a newspaper. The aesthetic imagery Komunyakaa uses within his collection of Vietnam War poetry wonderfully captures the explosive scenery and experiences gathered throughout his time spent over there during combat. This is a collection of Vietnam War time poetry well worth reading.

During one of the more impressive poems within the collection, "Somewhere Near Phu Bai," Komunyakaa and the speaker expresses his nighttime duty of watching the placement of the claymore mines. The claymore mines were being monitored because the enemy was known to rotate the grass floor bombs around, so upon engagement, they would blast onto the opposite forces instead of the enemy's. The poem begins with the line "The moon cuts through night trees like circular saw white hot" (1). The ominous image of the white moon cutting through the dark sky like a saw corresponds with the jagged, gloomy evening. The image of a moon is repeated throughout the poem as the speaker/man on duty describes "The white-painted backs of the Claymore mines like quarter moons." (14,15,16). Through repetition of the imagery Komunyakaa engrains the shadowy image of the night moon, and the fatal image of the bombs being shaped like moons as well. This is an effective correlation, because readers associate the night with the moonlike mines as does the speaker whose orders are to observe the mines. The claymore mines become his night. Comparisons and correlations like this occur throughout the collected poems allowing the audience to experience along with the speaker each wartime event. This is one of the wonderful attributes within Komunyakaa's writing because he really invites the reader to engage himself or her within the book.

Many of Komunyakaa's poems within his war poetry collection depict circumstances in which he remembers events during the war, and the recollections of these events reflect his emotions gathered during these experiences. Through the speaker's emotional stance, the book is successful in gathering an emotional response from the reader. The poet's ability to gather such emotional contact and responses from the reader constructs a memorable literary work. One brilliant poem within the book, "Roll Call," achieves the idea of gathering an emotional response from the audience. The poem describes a day in which a platoon of troops honors those that were killed during combat. The bodies are missing so the living war buddies are "lined up for reveille, ready to roll-call each M-16 propped upright between a pair of jungle boots, a helmet on its barrel as if it were a man" (4,5,6,7,8,9). The image of the surviving men "burying" their dead invites an emotional response from the reader. A response that is formulated on how one feels when a solider dies during combat.

This is powerful poetry, so much that when I read it I feel like I'm there, watching him and the surroundings that he witnessed in his mind so well.

Some of his metaphors are almost magical in their quality, their effusiveness, and ability to draw you in. It's also helped by the fact that very few poets write about war like this. Sure, there've been the I Rhyme, You Die poets from the civil war or other periods of history, but nothing like this.

He talks about the soldier's main preoccupation: women, home, warm smiles, grenades, RPG's, and dying--of course. All the while you know that there's this inherent sadness he can't talk about while he's a soldier. That's what makes these poems run so deep. I especially liked the poem "Thanks". It was heartbreaking for me.

It's beautiful reading about these scars, sad as they may be. Being a Soldier is a tough man's job, and hopefully people will read this book of poems and realize that.

Yusef Komunyakaa is the kind of poet that wins people over with his honesty. I agree with Adam from Mercer Island when he says that "This is powerful poetry, so much that when I read it I feel like I'm there, watching him and the surroundings that he witnessed in his mind so well." The most impressive aspect of Komunyakaa's poetry is his ability to create realistic visual images within the mind of the reader. The poet does, as Adam from Mercer Island mentioned, make the reader feel as if they are a part of the moment. The connection created allows the reader to fully understand the depth of meaning in each poem. There are several poems within Dien Cai Dau that accurately depict this concept.
The poem "A Greenness Taller Than Gods" is an excellent example of Komunyakaa's use of imagery. The poem begins with, "When we stop,/a green snake starts again/through deep branches./Spiders mend webs we marched into./Monkeys jabber in flame trees,/" (1-5) It is evident from the opening lines that Komunyakaa has a talent for creating visual images. It is like the reader is there with his platoon marching through the jungle and taking orders from the point man. In each of his poems, Komunyakaa also shows the fragile side of the soldiers. In "A Greenness Taller Than Gods", the speaker conveys this fragility by voicing the fears of the soldier. Lines 9-12 state, "The lieutenant puts on sunglasses/& points to an X circled/on his map. When will we learn/to move like trees moves?". The soldier struggles to move like trees knowing full well that it is not possible to do so. The reader gets the idea that the soldiers attempted to do many things that verged on impossible, which causes the reader to sympathize with their situation. Another poem that causes the reader to sympathize with the speaker of the poem is "You and I are Disappearing".
In "You and I are Disappearing", the poet is describing a scene that most people would never want to see in their lifetime. The opening lines state, "The cry I bring down from the hills/belongs to a girl still burning/inside my head. At daybreak/she burns like a piece of paper." (1-4). The visual image created here is vivid, although disturbing. The poet goes on to use several similes to further describe the state of the burning girl. The picture that is painted in the mind of the reader is graphic and forces the reader to understand what the soldiers of Vietnam had to witness and take part in. The poem is a successful attempt at portraying the depravity of the Vietnam War.
Along with Adam from Mercer Island, I too enjoyed the poem "Thanks". This poem creates some very realistic visual images and makes the reader think long and hard about luck and fate. The speaker of the poem is a soldier who is thanking whomever was responsible for him living through the war. Although I agree with Adam from Mercer Island in that the poem is touching, I do not see how it would be heartbreaking. I believe that the overall feel of the poem is encouraging. It makes the reader feel like there is always someone or something watching out for those that we care about when they are at war. I think that "Thanks" is one of the most uplifting poems in the entire book.
Other than the visual images that Komunayaa creates, another strong aspect to his poetry is the way in which he looks at war. As Adam from Mercer Island describes, "He [Komunyakaa] talks about the soldier's main preoccupation: women, home, warm smiles, grenades, RPG's, and dying-of course.". In the poem "Between Days", the poet speaks of a mother whose son has died in the war. The woman does not want to face the fact that she has lost her son, therefore she pretends like he is still going to come home. This aspect of war, the ones left behind, is not a popular subject for war poetry. The poem is such an accurate portrayal of the things that mothers must feel when they lose their sons in battle. The heartbreak is so hard to bear that they just avoid the situation all together. The poet depicts the scene in lines 6-13 by saying, "The room is just as he left it/fourteen years ago, everything/freshly dusted and polished/with lemon oil. The uncashed/death check from Uncle Sam/marks a passage in the Bible/on the dresser, next to the photo/staring out through the window.". Komunyakaa portrays the woman as holding on when war is thought to be about letting go. The woman is faithful to her son even after fourteen years and the situation is both encouraging and heartbreaking. Encouraging in the sense that the woman is still willing to wait for her son and won't cash his death check, but heartbreaking in that the reader knows that one day she is going to have to face the fact that her son is gone.
Komunyakaa's poetry is inspiring. He takes war and puts it into images and concepts that even someone who has never and will never experience war can relate to.
Each poem takes a different look at the Vietnam War, or just war in general, which allows the reader to better understand the situations and feelings that come with fighting in a war. Komunyakaa is an excellent poet and truly has a gift for connecting to his audience. Dien Cai Dau is a powerful book of poetry that uses imagery to connect the reader to the speaker in each poem which, in turn, will bring a new understanding of the Vietnam War to anyone who reads it.

Some people read Komunyakaa because he's a great Vietnam war poet. Some read him because he's a truly great Black poet. And they're right, too. And there's that unmistakable southern voice. And the omnipresent realization that nothing on this earth is ordinary and unworthy of praise, and brutal honesty is the poet's greatest strength. But the reason everyone should read Komunyakaa is that he is one of the greatest, clearest voices of our age. Here is the confirmation of your own humanity that every reader seeks.

This is a tremendous collection of Komunyakaa's life work, and is highly recommended for anyone who loves poetry and is looking for a new author to light up your imagination. I had to laugh at the reviewer from Minneapolis; he instead recommends Anthony Hecht, John Hollander and Albert Goldbarth -- the three most boring poets in the English language! If you want to be bored out of your skull, take this guy's recommendations. If you want to see how amazing contemporary poetry can be, I can't recommend this book highly enough.

I use this book of poetry in a creative writing class for high school students. While the language can be sometimes tough for them to follow (they're almost always afraid of poetry), the rhythms are so easy for them to follow. You may find yourself tapping your feet to the poems. This is a poet who knows sound, who knows rhythm, who knows the ways to marry those two ideas to words. And he teaches my students to do the same.

While I can't agree with the clinical nature of the previous review, I do agree that this book is truly great. However, I would not put Komunyakaa on my list of best African-American Poets, he is simply one of the best poets writing today. As good as Frank Stanford ever was. Truth be told I am wondering when it will be his turn to be names U.S. Poet Laureate. I fully expect him to receive the Nobel Prize.

Now about the book: I have been actively searching out Komunyakaa ever since I saw his poem, "Troubling the Waters." When I bought Neon Vernacular some years ago I put everything else away because Neon Vernacular was the only thing worth looking at for months. Now, I find myself reading "Songs for My Father" over and over. I even wroe a poem based upon "Starlight Scope Myopia" from Dien Cai Dau. Simply put, Yusef Komunyakaa is the one living writer I most want to meet with and talk poetry.

After I saw the movie "Il Postino" ("The Postman"), I was so moved and intrigued I had to go check out the poetry of Pablo Neruda. And after I heard Yusef Komunyakaa read from his own work, I immediately had to buy this collection of his poetry, NEON VERNACULAR, a book I have singularly cherished ever since.

Long ago, a friend defined poetry for me as "the marriage of meaning and music." I remember the late Etheridge Knight bemoaning in one of his haiku poems that "making words swing . . . ain't no square poet's job." Over the years, I've heard a number of poets read poetry, mostly their own; only a handful, such as Amiri Baraka, with any kind of groove and insight.

Komunyakaa and his work were both unknown quantities when I heard him read at Boston University some years ago. Never forget it! His voice was resonant as a cello. His presence was serene, eloquent as burnished mahogany. His casual elegance reminded me of singer "Big Joe" Williams, who fronted Count Basie's band for so many years. Combine that majesty with the power and grace of his reading, the pulse and insight of his poems . . . He finished to a standing ovation, while I, practically doubled over and in tears, as if just kicked in the solar plexus (literally knocked out by the beauty and the passion of what I'd just witnessed) cried in awe and joy. His performance had touched me, as someone else I knew once said, "down here where the soul begins . . ."

What about his poetry moves me so much? His wordsmithing in a distinct blues & jazz-inflected voice. The visceral impact as he explores growing up in the segregated South, his relationship to his father and family and friends; the terror and inhumanity of war; the examination of human frailty and pain and the struggle to decipher and determine a place in this world. I love his sheer virtuosity in sculpting language and rending fresh, startling images: "The tongue labors,/ a victrola in the mad mouth-hole/ of 3 A.M. sorrow." "When days are strung together,/ the hourglass fills/ with worm's dirt." Or perhaps the summation of loneliness (the ultimate human condition) in my favorite of his poems, "The Heart's Graveyard Shift": "Between loves I could stand all day/ at a window watching honeysuckle open/ as I make love to the ghosts/ smuggled inside my head."

This is word music that thrills you . . .

The Silence of Men is Richard Jeffrey Newman's first book of poetry. The book is beautifully printed and presented by CavanKerry Press, in keeping with the contents. Newman is a man who has learned from and been strengthened by his life experience. Love, family, sex, religion, and violence have all played integral parts in making him the man he is today. Poetically, his words penetrate to the reader's marrow and shine with honesty and emotion.

Richard Jeffrey Newman's work is exceptional. Readers won't have to scratch their heads and guess at his meanings. He expresses human emotions in ways profound, powerful, and poignant. In The Silence of Men, he tries "to give the dream a shape this page will hold." How he gives life to those words taking shape on the page is an enlightening journey.

This book of poetry for mature readers is highly recommended.

I have now read this entire book three times, and it continues to move me. What I appreciate most is Newman's insistence on letting memory and the past lead to reflecting upon and enriching the present. Memory within these poems is an ever-present, ever-changing force, not an obsession or grudge to be chipped away, but a source of richer voice and vision.

The author's persona comes across throughout as one that is willing to live deeply and fully, actively riding and owning the waves of circumstance, reaching for meaning from them. People are very much alive to him--this is not the voice of a solipsist. We see all this in long poems such as "Poem from the Barnes and Noble Cafe" and "Coitus Interruptus" as well as in his intriguing imaginative "story" poems.

The speaker is consistently one who feels the pain of today's violent world, and who views sex as a rich, reflective dialogue that leads to increased humanity. He avoids conventional masculine metaphors for sexuality, instead portraying himself as a tree, as earth. His is also a voice capable of beautiful longing ("Because"), and of a polyamorous acceptance ("Here").

What is not just innovative but admirable about the narrative voice is his relentless determination to face the consequences of his actions, like in "Bill's Story," or to come to terms with his dad's abandoning of him, without regret or recrimination, only melancholy ("After the Funeral"). Ultimately, Newman presents himself as part of a deeply human(e) fellowship of "complex beings / we believe ourselves to be: the people / we need always to come back to" ("The Speed and Weight of Justice").

I was stunned at the amount of intelligence and density in this poetry. I ordered this after hearing "The Deck" on NPR, as a gift for my wife, and we both consider it a treasure.

I had known of Komunyakaa for a while, but only recently began reading him. I'm glad I did. This is a book full of very different types of poems--some with regular stanza lengths, some with numbered sections, some short and without stanzas--and it is consistently excellent throughout. I think many poets tend to repeat themselves, but Komunyakaa seems to be one of the most courageous and technically sound poets there is. He is known for his poems about jazz, racial prejudice and the Vietnam War ( the entire section "Debriefing Ghosts" is a terrific sequence of anti-war poems), but I also enjoyed the ones not as easily catagorized. "Kosmos" is one of the best poems written to Walt Whitman I've ever read, and "The Glass Ark," about a couple unearthing fossils in the LaBrea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, is funny, playful and sexual without losing an odd seriousness.His language at times reminds me of Charles Simic--he seemingly finds the most disparate images that somehow seem "right"--but he is entirely on his own when it comes to combining long and short sequences, humor, sex, music and memory. Highly reccomended.

Flashback Through The Heart: The Poetry Of Yusef Komunyakaa by Angela M. Salas (Associate Professor of English, Clarke College, Dubuque, Iowa) is a literary study of African-American poet Yusef Komunyakaa's works and of interpretations and reactions to it. In particular, author Angela M. Salas stresses the importance of a balanced perspective when taking Komunyakaa's race and the race-related themes within his poetry into account. Reading Komunyakaa solely for his views upon race diminishes the full impact of his work as surely as neglecting the role race plays in his work. A literate, knowledgeable dissection, meticulously reasoned extensively documented in its conclusions and subjective judgements.

Mr. Komunyakaa is a wonderful poet deserving of all the praise he has garnered. This book is a perfect opportunity for new readers to introduce themselves to his charming work.

Yusef Komunyakaa is one of the few no-nonsense poets of our time. If you are one who looks for proper grammar in poetry, then maybe you should be reading prose. I have found that most people who enjoy poetry, enjoy it for the (excuse the borrowing) truth and beauty it discovers and is able to share with the reader. Although most sweeping generalizations on "how to" write poetry are flawed, it makes sense that Ezra Pound would want to set forth his own rules about abstraction, ... .... However, it makes no sense to apply rules set forth decades ago about poetry that is being written in the present ... . Pound was a member of a different literary movement than Komunyakaa, and I don't see what his unrelated take on abstraction has to do with Komunyakaa's writing. Komunyakaa is not abstract, and he is able to write about his life experience--including his time in Vietnam--with clarity and elegance. ...I would [also] recommend his book "Dien Cai Dau" which is perhaps his least abstract and most grammatically correct book of poetry....

Yusef Komunyakaa, Pleasure Dome: New and Collected Poems (Wesleyan, 2001)

When they say "new and collected," they mean "new and collected." Clocking in at just shy of five hundred pages, Pleasure Dome does collect, as far as I can tell, the sum total of Pulitzer winner Komunyakaa's work to date. It's a massive book, even larger than Jim Harrison's recent The Shape of the Journey, almost approaching the sheer magnitude of Hardy's Complete Poems, the largest single-author book of poetry to ever reside on my shelf. (Morris' The Earthly Paradise is in twelve volumes.) And while it does get inconsistent at times, the overall recommendation on it is a resonating yes.

Komunyakaa, a Vietnam war vet who began writing while in the bush, infuses much of his poetry with the war. This is not terribly surprising. What is is that, for atleast ninety-five percent of the war poetry, he does not allow the message to run away with the medium. That Komunyakaa's collections Toys in a Field and Dien Cai Dau are some of the most stirring work ever written on the Vietnam experience is testament to the power of McLuhan's oft-used truism "the medium is the message." Komunyakaa lets the story tell the story, and the story is stronger for it.

It is to be expected that no poet can be perfect, and this is true of Komunyakaa. However, the number of times he slips into messagizing mode can be counted here on the fingers of one hand, an absolutely astounding feat in a book of over four hundred pages of poetry; he is truly a master of the poetic art.

This is a book to be browsed through at leisure, not read per se; it took me almost six weeks to get through it, and I'm a speedreader. It demands time and effort, and will offer the reader willing to put them in rewards in kind. *** ½

Komunyakaa is by far the best American poet writing today. Pay no attention to those who fail to understand his unique way with words. Purists write boring poetry anyway...

What Komunyakaa brings so decisively to poetry is an exquisite and pungent language, woven into imagery that draws readers down the corridors of near surreal, yet enthralling, worlds. Forget the obtuse, emotional, and otherwise pseudo-critical 'reviews': Komunyakaa refuses to replicate the limpness and timidity that characterizes so much of the poetry of our day. More to the point, the reader who is truly paying attention comes away from these poems with a kind of vertigo spun from a refreshing interplay of similes and metaphors -- both complex and extended. This applies to every book of his poetry, all of which I highly recommend.

Magic City remains, perhaps, my favorite volume out of Yusef Komunyakaa's distinguished body of work. With his characteristic blues and jazz-inflected lyricism, Komunyakaa revisits the harrowing violence and racism of the deep south as viewed through a piercingly translucent prism of personal memory. The poems making up this volume are in many respects a poetry of witness, and the eyes through which which this gritty psychic landscape is revealed to the reader penetrate various scenes of troubled family life, poverty, violence and racism with a razor-sharp clarity rife with anger, sorrow, and beauty. Ranging in age from childhood to young adulthood, the speakers, or witnesses, in these poems see through eyes that are simultaneously innocent and jaded, naive and urbane, unflinchingly tough and lyrically sensitive. These are unforgettable poems. Like good blues, they cut right down to the bone.

Komunyakaa, who won the Pulitzer Prize for his Neon Vernacular, here writes about his childhood in a Louisiana town. The poems are poignant but unsentimental: the child's world has a certain kind of innocence but is saturated with violence, from the Klan to his father's abuse of his mother to the pragmatic violence of slaughtering a hog. One of the more exciting elements of this book is Komunyakaa's skill in combining realistic description with startling and even puzzlingly abstract language.

I will say once again,

David Lehman is one of the most facinating writers, poets, and editors that I have ever read. He is the author of The Daily Mirror, a wonderful and well penned selection of poems.
I believe his perspective and talent for finding the best poets lies in his experience. Mr.Lehman is a great editor and any reader who chooses to pick up and read this book will be thankful.

One can learn so much from the writers and makers of The Best American Poetry books. I also recommend, his most recent book, The Last Avant-Garde: The Making of the New York School of Poets. I give all these books 5 stars!

It seems a general rule of thumb that if you enjoy the guest editor's work, you will enjoy most of their selections. I enjoy Koumunyakaa and his choices for this years best poetry. I especially enjoyed his introduction talking about the lack of content in many poems today. As with most books in this series, there are many familiar names such as Merwin, Williams, Kizer, Levine, Philips, but also some new and hopefully upcoming poets, such as Joy Katz. There are a few September 11th poems, but most of them are readable. This is one of the best in the series that I have read.

What we have here is another mediocre volume in what should be a great series. And this year's looked promising, but you'll find very few poems worth noting inside.

Thank you, David Lehman, for having chosen Yusef Komunyakaa to edit THE BEST AMERICAN POETRY 2003, the most interesting since Adrienne Rich edited THE BEST AMERICAN POETRY 1996. And thank you, Yusef Komunyakaa, for not shuffling the same old, worn cards again! Congratulations to all!

I picked it up at the book store and was flipping through it. Wow! Seemed to be a little more accessible than some of Komunyakaa's other work, but just as powerful if not more so.

I was looking forward to reading "Talking Dirty to the Gods" from the moment I first saw it mentioned in "Poets & Writers." I was slightly disappointed with the book, however. My understanding is this was a collection of poems which were written during Yusef's walks to his classes. Every one of the 131 poems is four stanzas of four lines each. Many focus on Greek mythology (keeping with the theme of the book.) It isn't that the work is hard to understand, but it is more ambiguous than "Magic City" and "Dien Cai Dau" in its imagery. Two poems, however, caught my eye as being two of the best I've ever read. "Bedazzled", and "Genet" are exceptionally beautiful and finely honed poems with strong images and an afterthought that makes the reader just say "wow". Unfortunately the entire book is not like this, as "Magic City", and "Dien Cai Dau" were for me. Overall this book is definately worth reading, but I would not spend the extra money to get the hardback, if I had it to do over again.

"Blue Notes" is useful for readers needing basic information about Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa. The volume is divided into four distinct sections. One may read essays by Komunyakaa(on Etheridge Knight, Robert Hayden, and jazz musicians), commentaries he has written in response to his own work, and works that were in process as "Blue Notes" was published. In addition, the inclusion of old interviews with Komunyakaa gives readers a view of the arc of YK's aesthetic development, as well as insights into his views on the subjects of his work. The book fills a need.