Vietnam helped me to look at the horror and terror in the hearts of people and realize how we can't aim guns and set booby traps for people we have never spoken a word to. That kind of impersonal violence mystifies me.
It wasn't a deliberate decision to become a poet. It was something I found myself doing - and loving. Language became an addiction. - Yusef Komunyakaa
It wasn't a deliberate decision to become a poet. It was something I found myself doing - and loving. Language became an addiction.
- Yusef Komunyakaa
I define poetry as celebration and confrontation. When we witness something, are we responsible for what we witness? That's an on-going existential q… - Yusef Komunyakaa
I define poetry as celebration and confrontation. When we witness something, are we responsible for what we witness? That's an on-going existential q…
Poetry is a kind of distilled insinuation. It's a way of expanding and talking around an idea or a question. Sometimes, more actually gets said throu… - Yusef Komunyakaa
Poetry is a kind of distilled insinuation. It's a way of expanding and talking around an idea or a question. Sometimes, more actually gets said throu…
Poetry helps me understand who I am. It helps me understand the world around me. But above all, what poetry has taught me is the fact that I need to … - Yusef Komunyakaa
Poetry helps me understand who I am. It helps me understand the world around me. But above all, what poetry has taught me is the fact that I need to …
I like connecting the abstract to the concrete. There's a tension in that. I believe the reader or listener should be able to enter the poem as a par… - Yusef Komunyakaa
I like connecting the abstract to the concrete. There's a tension in that. I believe the reader or listener should be able to enter the poem as a par…
I'm uncomfortable with the focus on the poet and not on the poem. - Yusef Komunyakaa
I'm uncomfortable with the focus on the poet and not on the poem.
Poets are seen as the caretakers of language, so working with words no matter what the form is what we do. - Yusef Komunyakaa
Poets are seen as the caretakers of language, so working with words no matter what the form is what we do.
Poetry is a process of getting back to the unconscious. Hence, I am always writing-even when I'm not facing the white space. I feel writers are like … - Yusef Komunyakaa
Poetry is a process of getting back to the unconscious. Hence, I am always writing-even when I'm not facing the white space. I feel writers are like …
Tonight I feel the stars are out to use me for target practice. - Yusef Komunyakaa
Tonight I feel the stars are out to use me for target practice.
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