Poetry Unbound

Yusef Komunyakaa — Praising Dark Places

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Apr 29, 2022
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ANECDOTE

Boy Lifts Board And Finds Scorpion

  • Yusef Komunyakaa describes lifting a board as a boy and finding a crimson scorpion and other insects beneath it.
  • That childhood discovery frames the poem's curiosity and tactile encounter with beauty that can bite.
INSIGHT

Voice Shifts From Child To Reflective Adult

  • The poem shifts voice from an observing child to an adult reflecting on how light interrupts hidden life.
  • That change exposes the poem's deeper question about light as metaphor and who gets to claim moral superiority.
ANECDOTE

Disturbed By A Hymn's Language

  • Chris Heagle recounts being at a religious meeting where a hymn sang 'Jesus make me whiter' and felt disturbed.
  • That experience propelled his scrutiny of light/white metaphors and their racial implications.
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