I think of my poems as personal and public at the same time. You could say they serve as psychological overlays. One fits on top of the other, and hopefully there's an ongoing evolution of clarity.

Yusef Komunyakaa

Yusef Komunyakaa

Clarity Could Evolution Fits Hopefully I Think Ongoing Other Personal Poems Psychological Public Same Say Serve Think Time Top You

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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 participant. So I try to get past resolving poems.

— Yusef Komunyakaa

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We have to embrace the good over the bad. That has to be one's personal project.

— Yusef Komunyakaa

It took me 14 years to write poems about Vietnam. I had never thought about writing about it, and in a way I had been systematically writing around it.

— Yusef Komunyakaa

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I like what Oliver Lakes does on the saxophone. The saxophone comes pretty close to the sound of the human voice and when Oliver plays with other sax players, it's like a dialogue.

— Yusef Komunyakaa

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I think I could sing and shear a few sheep at the same time.

— Robert Plant

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