Poetry Quote by Yusef Komunyakaa

I see many black males grasping for some thread of hope. There are so many destructive practices, glimpses into a psychic abyss. That must…

— Yusef Komunyakaa

“Title: Blue Light Lounge Sutra For The Performance Poets At Harold Park Hotel the need gotta be so deep words can't answer simple questions…

— Yusef Komunyakaa

“Foolhearted mindreader, help us see how the heart begs, how fangs of opprobrium possess our eyes.”

— 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…

— Yusef Komunyakaa

Whoever said men hit harder when women are around, is right. Word for word, we beat the love out of each other.

— Yusef Komunyakaa

I think of language as our first music.

— Yusef Komunyakaa

I think of my poems as personal and public at the same time. You could say they serve as psychological overlays. One fits on…

— Yusef Komunyakaa

“In the old days, the general's ribbons / & medals rainbowed across his chest, / & if he were interrogating himself, / by now,…

— Yusef Komunyakaa

Blue is the insides of something mysterious and lonely. I'd look at fish and birds, thinking the sky and water colored them. The first…

— Yusef Komunyakaa

“The Way the Cards Fall " Why did you stay away so long? I’ve buried another husband, since I last saw you holding to…

— Yusef Komunyakaa

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…

— 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