
Yusef Komunyakaa (born April 29, 1947) is an American poet who teaches at New York University and is a member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. Komunyakaa is a recipient of the 1994 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, for Neon Vernacular and the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. He also received the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. Komunyakaa received the 2007 Louisiana Writer Award for his enduring contribution to the poetry world. His subject matter ranges from the black general experience through rural Southern life before the Civil Rights time period and his experience as a soldier during the Vietnam War. (from Wikipedia)
La poesía de Komunyakaa ha sido dividida en dos grandes temas: su experiencia en Vietnam y su niñez en Louisiana. Su poesía se caracteriza por el empleo del verso corto, las poderosas imágenes y la utilización de patrones coloquiales en el estilo. Empleando su herencia cultural afroamericana y euroamericana del Caribe, emplea gran variedad de elementos intertextuales. Sus libros de poesía centrados en su niñez y adolescencia en Luisiana se alimentan de la cultura y el folclor afroamericanos, la música de jazz con referencias a cantantes legendarios como Charles Mingus, Charlie Parker, Louis Armstrong, Thelonius Monk, o Ray Charles, el legado de la esclavitud de los Estados del Sur y su propia historia familiar.