Natasha Trethewey Is One Smart Lady

Natasha Trethewey’s reading at the H. Bruce McEver Poetry Reading offers more than poetry. She puts the poems in context by offering background about the topics in the poems as well as her experiences that helped the poems come about. Her first poem about forgotten soldiers uses rhyme and short lines to convey a haunting tale.


 A common theme in her work is race. She uses her poetry as political commentary. She discusses her family and miscegenation, which turns her life into poetry into political activism. She is also the current U. S. Poet Laureate.

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Yusef Komunyakaa: More Than Simply Fun To Say

Yusef Komunyakaa uses his own history to develop his poetry. His intonation and timing at the reading for the PoetryEverywhere project create an inviting scene and a haunting tale. His poetry uses detailed imagery of war to shock and to tell the truth. "Facing It" encompasses both literal and figurative meaning, intermixing them to the point of confusion. Reality is questionable, yet very certain.
Komunyakaa is another contemporary poet. He, too, fits into other "categories" of poets. Where does he fall and why?

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