Poetry Analysis: Facing 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.

In this poem, the speaker is a Vietnam War veteran who is visiting the Vietnam Veteran Memorial in Washington, D.C. Seeing the names of past soldiers is hard for him, because it is bringing back past emotions and memories from his time serving in Vietnam. He sees his reflection in the black granite, and says: "I'm stone. I'm flesh." The connotation of stone is hard and unfeeling. Flesh connotes a person, but does not bring the image of soul and life, just the physical existence. This short section shows emotions the speaker is feeling. The wall evokes many memories: "I touch the name Andrew Johnson;I see the booby trap's white flash." Images switch back and forth from the present to the past, showing the speaker is still haunted by his experiences in Vietnam.
The black granite wall resembles the war with all 58,022 names on and the people who can be remembered by looking at this wall. "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." The veteran's arm was not lost in the actual wall, but it was lost in the war. As the speaker looks at the wall, he sees the past memories and events that occurred while in Vietnam. In order to read this poem with a clear understanding of what the poem means and signifies, you have to "read beyond the text". Each line means more than what is being written. "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." These lines do not mean that he was trying to leave the Vietnam Memorial sight, it means that when the black granite wall is in front of him, there is no letting go and getting away from the tragedies and losses that occurred in Vietnam.