Komunyakaa's Poem Facing It

“Facing It” is a very sincere, emotional poem; the speaker in this poem is an African American Vietnam veteran visiting the Vietnam memorial in Washington D.C. The speaker is an African American because he states this in the lines “My black face fades, hiding inside the black granite” (Komunyakaa 1-2). The speaker’s memories of the war are like undying passenger with him for the remainder of his life. The passenger has a solid grip on the speaker when he gazes at the wall of names at the Vietnam memorial. The grip the memories have on the speaker is every evident in the lines “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” (8-13). The tone