Yusef Komunyakaa
By: Vanessa Teh
February 10, 2007
English III
Period 1
Ode To The Raccoon
By Yusef Komunyakaa
I have witnessed you
Wash your paws at the altar
Of your moony reflection
Halved by a dogwood.
People say grace over you
In the backwoods - garnished
With sweet potatoes & red peppers.
I have seen you fold paws across
Ringed eyes to shield out
Flashlights, as stout men
Climbed oaks to shake you down
For the dogs. Raised on hind legs,
With fruity entrails perfuming
The cold night air, you fought
Till men kicked the dogs off
To save you for their blessings.
Yusef was born and raised in Bogalusa, Louisiana and was the eldest of five siblings. He graduated from Bogalusa's Central High School in 1965 and immediately enlisted into the United States Army to serve in the Vietnam War. While in the army, he began writing for the military newspaper The Southern Cross. Yusef left the army in the early 1970’s and enrolled at the University of Colorado. He left Colorado State to earn an M.F.A. from the University of California at Irvine in 1980. Yusef taught as a Professor at Indiana University for ten years. He was married to Mandy Sayer, who was an Australian writer, for ten years, and was also engaged to Reetika Vazirani, before she had killed both herself and their son in 2003. He is now currently teaching at Princeton University and has been since 1997. In 1999, Yusef Komunyakaa was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.also his many publications and poetry collections, and as the co-editor alongside Sascha Feinstein of two volumes of "The Jazz Poetry Anthology" from Indiana University Press. Komunyakaa was a visiting writer at the Writers Institute on March 8, 2001.
His poems have aptly been described as "razor-sharp pieces that tell us more about our culture than any news broadcast, and according to Toi Derrcote, who focused on the poet’s aesthetic wrote "Komunyakaa's poetry is about art, about how it alters reality, how it changes the past, and how it is both a desperate and a redemptive act" and Komunyakaa himself has claimed that "language is what can liberate or imprison the human psyche" and that "we are responsible for our lives and the words we use."
"Komunyakaa himself has claimed that "language is what can liberate or imprison the human psyche" and that "we are responsible for our lives and the words we use." One of his latest works, Talking Dirty to the Gods, which is about Greek mythology, music, and themes both classical and modern.
Komunyaka's childhood memories were one of the many inspirations for his writing. Music, and Southern life was another key event for his writings. Another very important thing that inspired his poetry was his experiences in the Army. Being a teacher at Princeton, his poems have inspired all of his privileged students.
Dietmar Zsigmond Community Member 
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