Over the years, Komunyakaa has taken part in many interviews on his life and works. In a 2018 interview titled "The Complexity of Being Human,"[10] Komunyakaa addresses the careful use of language and influences of some of his most famous works such as "Facing It."[10] He compares his work to that of a painter or carpenter.[10] He states that poetry is vastly different from journalism in that his work is more violent, much like nature.[10]
In his interview "The Singing Underneath," Komunyakaa describes the biblical influences in his work.[11] He recalls reading the Bible in his youth and discovering what he believed to be underlying poetic elements.[11] Komunyakaa also pays his respects to early influences such as Langston Hughes, Paul Laurence Dunbar, and Phillis Wheatley.[11]
In a 2010 interview by Tufts Observer,[12] Komunyakaa when asked to list the individuals who most influenced him, he names Robert Hayden, Bishop, Pablo Neruda, and Walt Whitman.
Below are a few of his most popular interviews:
- Interview: Paul Muldoon & Yusef Komunyakaa[13]
- An Interview with Yusef Komunyakaa[14]
- Still Negotiating with the Images: An Interview with Yusef Komunyakaa[15]
- Yusef Komunyakaa: The Willow Springs Interview[16]
- A Conversation Between Yusef Komunyakaa and Alan Fox, November 28, 1997[17]
