1. We Never Know By: Yusef Komunyakaa Presented by:
Chris Hallam, Tom Reinken, James Riggleman, Lindsey Carson, Rachel Robertson, and Megan Troupe

2. We Never Know
He danced with tall grass for a moment, like he was swaying with a woman. Our gun barrels glowed white- hot. When I got to him, a blue halo of flies had already claimed him. I pulled the crumbed photograph from his fingers. There's no other way to say this: I fell in love. The morning cleared again, except for a distant mortar & somewhere choppers taking off. I slid the wallet into his pocket & turned him over, so he wouldn't be kissing the ground.

3. Poem Summary
He was staggering because he was shot, which resembled him dancing with a woman
The guns provide the first implication that the setting was in a war zone.
The speaker is on the opposing side of the person being described.
The pronoun “our” describes that the speaker shot at the causality along with his other comrades.
The flies had already claimed him which implied that the body had been lying there for a while.

4. Poem Summary Cont.
The photograph that he grabbed from the man’s hand was more than likely a photo of his loved one or family and the man was said to fall in love.
The distant mortar shells and choppers indicated that the war had since moved on to a different area.
The speaker put the wallet of the causality back where he first found it and flipped him over so that he wouldn’t be lying dead facing down.
This act was his way of showing respect toward the man and his family.

5. 1st Feature
The use of simile: “like he was swaying with a woman.”  This could potentially refer to a later portion of the poem concerning the possible woman in the crumbled photograph.
“White-hot glow of the gun barrels”: confirms that it was, in fact, the speaker’s platoon that had killed the man.
“Blue halo of flies had already claimed him”: the color blue is often considered a tranquil color and the halo-shape the flies were in could give the impression of the peaceful release of the soldiers soul.

6. 2nd Feature
The photograph may be his family, child, but most likely his love.
The speaker says, “There’s no other way to say this: I fell in love,” which can be taken three different ways.
First, the speaker fell in love with the person in the picture.
Secondly, the speaker fell in love with being able to take the life of his enemy and ruin his hopes and dreams.
Lastly, the speaker fell in love with scene and how it was so poetic for the man to die with the thoughts of his loved ones in his mind.

7. 3rd Feature “I turned him over, so he wouldn't be kissing the ground.”
We realize that the man lying dead is not actually kissing the ground.
The author uses a metaphor here to help us visualize the man lying face down in the grown after being shot in war.
He also may be using a metaphor at this point to reach our emotions by turning the man over on his back out of respect instead of leaving him face down and indistinguishable.

8. History on Poem
Describes in disturbingly sexual terms the experience of killing someone
Army Correspondent during Vietnam War
American Soldier
Enemy was either North Vietnamese or a Viet Cong soldier
Author’s views were changed through the war

9. We Never Know
He danced with tall grass for a moment, like he was swaying with a woman. Our gun barrels glowed white- hot. When I got to him, a blue halo of flies had already claimed him. I pulled the crumbed photograph from his fingers. There's no other way to say this: I fell in love. The morning cleared again, except for a distant mortar & somewhere choppers taking off. I slid the wallet into his pocket & turned him over, so he wouldn't be kissing the ground.