Komunyakaa's poem is about a Vietnam veteran's visit to the Vietnam memorial. He feels as though he should be a part of that wall and have died with his fellow veterans, because he feels so close to them. He recollects about his wartime memories, and watches the surrounding peoples' reflection on the wall. The title "Facing It" is very fitting for this poem. First of all, the speaker literally must face or look at the memorial. In this sense, he also sees his face in the reflection. It also figuratively shows how the veteran must face his past memories of the war and the tragedy of losing his comrades during the war. Rather than forget about the experience he must learn to accept it. This also deals with him reflecting on his own life and literally seeing his reflection and the other visitors' on the wall.
             The speaker starts out by using color imagery to make himself part of the "black" wall. He loses his humanlike qualities as he becomes lost in his own reverie: "No tears. I'm stone." The author symbolically compares himself to a wall so that he can have no feelings of loss or sorrow. He also plays upon the importance of his own reflection. This is significant throughout the entire poem. "My clouded reflection eyes me/ like a bird of prey." Rather than actually seeing the world as it exists, he sees it through the stonewall, like the dead soldiers do. This indirect way shows his own reflection or contemplation about the war, and the way that it has shifted his view of the world. His use of the words "bird of prey" creates an image of death. The speaker then goes on playing with his reflection, "depending on the light/ to make a difference." This literally describes the shininess of the wall's surface. It can also mean how the way that he perceives the world can change, as the way that he can view himself.
             This view, or self-reflection, is ...