Renowned poet and Colorado State University graduate Yusef Komunyakaa will receive the William E. Morgan Alumni Achievement Award Oct. 24 at the Distinguished Alumni Awards ceremony.

Komunyakaa has received numerous awards throughout his career, including the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, Griffin Poetry Prize Lifetime Recognition Award, Hanes Poetry Prize and, most notably, the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1994.

“While he was writing about race and war and pre-civil rights movements — violence and protests — he was also always writing about the living world,” said Camille Dungy, a university distinguished professor and author at CSU. “He was always writing with a really deep attention and love and connection to the plants and animals and waterways that were around him.”

Komunyakaa was born in segregated Bogalusa, Louisiana, in 1947 and later served in the military as a correspondent and managing editor of the Southern Cross military newspaper during the Vietnam War.

“I suppose growing up in Louisiana, going out into the environment when I (was) 6, you know, discovering things I didn’t know — that in a way was a rehearsal for becoming a poet,” Komunyakaa said in a 2018 interview.

After the military, Komunyakaa earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Colorado Colorado Springs before coming to CSU, where he earned a master’s in writing. Throughout his time at CSU, Komunyakaa was an inspiration to his peers and professors alike.

“I think the reader should be challenged because after all, the reader also has a brain, and the human brain is gluttonous; it wants to know everything.” –Yusef Komunyakaa, poet

“It was immediately apparent that this was a person with major talent,” said Bill Tremblay, former CSU creative writing professor and author. “The poems were literally astonishing.”

Tremblay recalled a time when Gwendolyn Brooks, the first African American writer to receive a Pulitzer Prize, was invited to read at CSU and called Komunyakaa to the stage to read with her.

“It was a great honor but only the first of many,” Tremblay said.

Tremblay helped Komunyakaa write his thesis “Lost in the Bonewheel Factory,” which was later featured in Komunyakaa’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book “Neon Vernacular: New and Selected Poems.”

Here is an excerpt from the poem “Corrigenda” in “Lost in the Bonewheel Factory”:

I haven’t seen the moon
fall open at the golden edge of our sleep.
I haven’t been there
like the tumor in each of us.
There’s no death that can
hold us together like twin brothers
coming home to bury their mother.

Komunyakaa’s other works address a wide array of topics, from the Vietnam War in “Dien Cai Dau” to racial oppression in “Copacetic” and his childhood in “Magic City.” He is most known for his war poetry and incorporating themes of jazz and blues into his writing.

“I think the reader should be challenged because after all, the reader also has a brain, and the human brain is gluttonous; it wants to know everything,” Komunyakaa said at a 2014 poetry conference.

After graduating from CSU, Komunyakaa earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of California at Irvine. He went on to teach at the University of New Orleans, Indiana University Bloomington, Princeton University and New York University.

Dungy, who knows Komunyakaa personally and will be accepting the alumni award on his behalf this year, described how his voice can captivate a room.

“When he talks, it’s almost like a song,” Dungy said. “When I think about the times I’m with him, I just think about that sort of leaning in that everybody around will do to hear what it is that’s going to be said.”

Dungy’s reflections highlight not only Komunyakaa’s compelling way of speaking but also the thoughtful, attentive presence he brings to every interaction.

“He’s shared a kind of way of being in the world,” Dungy said. “A kind of quiet, attentive, focused, caring way of being in the world.”

Although Komunyakaa could not be reached for comment, Tremblay and Dungy described a man whose influence extends beyond the world of Black literature and into the hearts and minds of those who know him.

“He has carried his honors with dignity,” Tremblay said. “And I am proud to call him a friend.”

Reach Chloe Waskey at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @CSUCollegian.