10 facts about yusef komunyakaa
- •
About Yusef Komunyakaa
In 1947, Yusef Komunyakaa was born in Bogalusa, Louisiana, where he was raised during the beginning of the Civil Rights movement. He served in the United States Army from 1969 to 1970 as a correspondent, and as managing editor of the Southern Cross during the Vietnam War, earning him a Bronze Star. He began writing poetry in 1973, and received his bachelor's degree from the University of Colorado Springs in 1975. His first book of poems, Dedications & Other Darkhorses, was published in 1977, followed by Lost in the Bonewheel Factory in 1979. During this time, he earned his MA and MFA in creative writing from Colorado State University and the University of California, Irvine, respectively.
Komunyakaa first received wide recognition following the 1984 publication of Copacetic, a collection of poems built from colloquial speech which demonstrated his incorporation of jazz influences. He followed the book with two others: I Apologize for the Eyes in My Head (1986), winner of the San Francisco Poetry Center Award; and Dien Cai Dau (1988), which won The Dark Roo
- •
Yusef Komunyakaa
Yusef Komunyakaa has said that the gift of the poet is to see behind things. In seventeen acclaimed collections he has done just that, leading us through the richly peopled landscapes of many worlds and across moments in time, interweaving history and myth, surrealistic imagery, montage and folk idiom. Suffused with the rhythms of jazz and blues, Komunyakaa’s work relies on both intense emotional logic and creative improvisation, aiming always for the surprise note, that entryway into the secret universe of each poem. In the words of Robyn Selman, “[His] poems rise to a crescendo, like that moment in songs one or two beats before the bridge, when everything is hooked-up, full-blown.”
Born in Bogalusa, Louisiana in 1947, Komunyakaa was raised at the start of the Civil Rights movement. From 1969 to 1970 he served in Vietnam as a correspondent and managing editor for the military newspaper Southern Cross. Though he spent much of his tour of duty in the field, both witnessing combat and reporting, he did not begin writing poems about Vietnam until 14
- •
Yusef Komunyakaa
American poet (born 1941)
Yusef Komunyakaa (born James William Brown; April 29, 1941)[2] is an American poet who teaches at New York University and is a member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. Komunyakaa is a recipient of the 1994 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, for Neon Vernacular[3] and the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. He also received the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. Komunyakaa received the 2007 Louisiana Writer Award for his contribution to poetry.
His subject matter ranges from the black experience through rural Southern life before the Civil Rights era and his experience as a soldier during the Vietnam War.
Life and career
According to public records, Komunyakaa was born in 1947 and given the name James William Brown. (His former wife said in her memoir that he was born in 1941.)[2] He was the eldest of five children of James William Brown, a carpenter, and his wife.[4] He grew up in the small town of Bogalusa, Louisiana. As an adult, he reclaimed the name Komunyakaa, said to be his grandfath
Copyright ©bandtide.pages.dev 2025