But also I think the speaker used "like smoke" because it symbolizes the amount of smoke in the war and also possibly that his name could of been there but disappeared like smoke because of who saved him. One never comes to fully understand what his role was, but he came close to death at one point or another.

I feel as if the wall is that color because it represents such a dark time in people life's. “My black face fades, hiding inside the black granite.” 2.

The literal meaning is basically that he sees a white flash from something that passes across the warm. The names on there are there permanently and will not move even if people do walk by it.

Keep it upI really enjoyed your analysis of this poem. I like the idea this writer had for their blog response they brought up Yusef's problem when he closes his eyes he sees his soldiers dying and speaks about Andrew Johnson seeing the booby traps white flash. :)Great analysis, I really enjoyed reading this, "Facing It" is such a powerful poem.Copyright © 2020 HubPages Inc. and respective owners. “A white vet’s image floats closer to me, then his pale eyes look through mine. This image and title has given me more understanding, due to the stanzas it makes it seems real even though it happened long ago. As he’s dead and literally looking at this memorial face to face. You made this poem a lot easier to understand.very nice analysis. yes he was depressed and hurt from his men passing away, but he had a flash back of the past and all the horrific events he seen and he's facing it all. He thinks,This makes clear to the reader that wherever the speaker is, it is somewhere quite moving. I mean yeah obviously when someone walks by the wall the names would look as if they are on their clothes.

I turn that way --am inside the Vietnam veterans memorial again, depending on the light to make a difference" this means that he turn back to the middle of the memorial to see the sun on his face, also doing makes him feels or reminds him that he is still at the Vietnam war. But the reflection blocks the name as her son is still alive but when it’s gone; his life is lost in the war. But in the sense that he thinks "why was it him and not me?" The theme of this poem, through the speaker, gives us a peek into one of the most difficult phases a person can face in a lifetime. The metaphorical meaning is that he their physically but he might feel as if he should be on the granite wall too. To anyone else this is just a bird and a plane; to this man it instantly becomes a memory of the war. The speaker is within his own world, narrating his own experience. Especially since he is at the memorial with the names of his friends who he may have seen die. Also touching the wall or the names on wall makes him feel the terrible situation he went through in the past. I don't feel as if its wrong but i can catch that thought as well throughout the poem maybe things could have been different. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (2007)

This poem has both a lot of literal and figurative meaning behind it and this in which helps us as the readers to imagine how things were for him while looking at this wall. In lines 3 – 5 he states “I said I wouldn’t, dammit: No tears. He is basically reminiscing at the memorial of the trauma that he went through while he was the Vietnam Memorial. For Yusef, this memorial does not awaken in him new emotions but old reoccurring ones; ones which he fights to contain with little success, although he came to the memorial with the knowledge that he would find it a highly emotional experience. The black wall of the memorial evokes all kinds of war-torn images from the violent past which are full of … Lastly the third image got me thinking, how did he come up with that statement. However, as he in fact touches Andrew Johnson's name, Yusef finds that he did not share these men's ultimate end. The poem "Facing it" by Yusef Komunyakaa is about a man who came back from war and is now dealing with the negative side of it. It is most commonly thought that all Komunyakaa may be the narrator, telling this poem in first-person straight from his memories in the Vietnam Warfare. Thank you! In the poem "facing it" three of the strong imagery that really stuck out to me was when the author said "My black face fades, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (1993) !I think another noteworthy aspect to take into account is how ambiguity adds meaning to the poem.