In this jaunty and intimate collection, Kevin Young invents a language as shimmying and comic, as low-down and high-hearted, as the music from which he draws inspiration. With titles such as "Stride Piano," "Gutbucket," and "Can-Can," these poems have the sharp completeness of vocalized songs and follow a classic blues trajectory: praising and professing undying devotion ("To watch you walk / cross the room in your black / corduroys is to see / civilization start"), only to end up lamenting the loss of love ("No use driving / like rain, past / where you at"). As Young conquers the sorrow left on his doorstep, the poems broaden to embrace not just the wisdom that comes with heartbreak but the bittersweet wonder of triumphing over adversity at all. Sexy and tart, playfully blending an African American idiom with traditional lyric diction, Young's voice is pure American: joyous in its individualism and singing of the self at its strongest. From the Hardcover edition.

Kevin Young’s first book, Most Way Home, was selected for the National Poetry Series and won the Zacharis First Book Award from Ploughshares. His second book of poems, To Repel Ghosts, a “double album” based on the work of the late artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, was a finalist for the James Laughlin Prize from the Academy of American Poets. Young’s poetry and essays have appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, The Kenyon Review, and Callaloo. He is editor of the anthology Giant Steps: The New Generation of African American Writers and the forthcoming Everyman’s Library Pocket Poet anthology Blues Poems. A former Stegner Fellow in Poetry at Stanford University, Young is currently Ruth Lilly Professor of Poetry at Indiana University. From the Hardcover edition.

EPITHALAMION

2

(5)

1

CAKEWALK

7

(2)

DIXIELAND

9

(1)

SIREN

10

(1)

RHYTHM & BLUES

11

(1)

SHIMMY

12

(1)

ZOOT

13

(1)

ETUDE

14

(1)

DITTY

15

(1)

RAGTIME

16

(1)

JINGLE

17

(1)

BOOGIE-WOOGIE

18

(2)

GUTBUCKET

20

(1)

FIELD SONG

21

(1)

CHEER

22

(1)

BLUE MOVIE

23

(2)

JOOK

25

(1)

SUMMER SONG

26

(3)

OVERTURE

29

(1)

JITTERBUG

30

(2)

EARLY BLUES

32

(1)

FANTASIA

33

(3)

AUBADE

36

(1)

BLACKBOTTOM

37

(1)

NONES

38

(1)

BOOGALOO

39

(1)

MIC CHECK

40

(2)

TUNE

42

(1)

CAN-CAN

43

(1)

BOASTS

44

(2)

SONG OF SMOKE

46

(2)

SWING

48

(1)

STRIDE PIANO

49

(1)

PRELUDE

50

(1)

ERRATA

51

(2)

NOCTURNE

53

(4)

{2}

BREAK

57

(1)

CANTATA:

RECITATIVE

58

(1)

ARIA

59

(1)

CHORUS

60

(1)

DUET

61

(2)

BLUES

63

(2)

JIVE

65

(2)

RHAPSODY

67

(2)

SORROW SONG

69

(1)

VESPERS

70

(1)

PLAYER PIANO

71

(3)

HARVEST SONG

74

(1)

FOXTROT

75

(1)

REED SONG

76

(3)

COUNTRY (& WESTERN)

79

(2)

RIFF

81

(2)

BLUEGRASS

83

(1)

DISASTER MOVIE THEME MUSIC

84

(4)

MADRIGAL

88

(1)

DRUM TALK

89

(2)

CALYPSO

91

(3)

GUMBO

94

(1)

ENCORE

95

(1)

LOCOMOTIVE SONGS

96

(3)

AUTUMN SONG

99

(2)

BUSKING

101

(1)

DOO WOP

102

(1)

BANJO

103

(2)

FUNK

105

(2)

SLEEPWALKING PSALMS:

1 EVERY DAY SINCE

107

(1)

2 THE TELEVISION WE BOUGHT

107

(1)

3 SOON I'LL THANK YOU

108

(1)

4 SOMETIMES I FEEL LIKE THE STARGAZERS

109

(1)

5 WHEN I SAID I DIDN'T MIND

109

(1)

6 STUMBLING HOME

110

(1)

7 THERE ARE NO MORE SAINTS

111

(1)

8 I LOVE YOU THE WAY A LIAR LOVES

111

(1)

9 BARBEQUE DREAMS

112

(1)

10 THESE DAYS SO HOT YOU FORGET

113

(1)

CHORALE

114

(1)

TORCH SONG

115

(1)

FISH STORY

116

(2)

JUBILEE

118

(1)

SUITE

119

(4)

{3}

ENVOY

123

(1)

SCHERZO

124

(4)

RAMBLE

128

(2)

ANTHEM

130

(1)

TACIT

131

(1)

HONKY TONK

132

(1)

SAXOPHONE SOLO

133

(2)

SLIDE GUITAR

135

(1)

PLAINSONG

136

(1)

LYRE

137

(3)

REQUIEM

140

(2)

DIRGE

142

(2)

DEEP SONG

144

(1)

EVENSONG

145

(2)

OPERA

147

(1)

SONG OF SOWING

148

(1)

ROCK

149

(1)

INTERLUDE

150

(1)

& ROLL

151

(1)

MOOD

152

(2)

INSTRUMENTAL

154

(1)

PASTORALE

155

(9)

VOWS

164

(1)

MUZAK

165

(1)

HERO

166

(2)

SONG OF SOLSTICE

168

(2)

CODA

170

(1)

PARLOR SONG

171

(4)

INTERMEZZO

175

(2)

THRENODY

177

(2)

COTILLION

179

(2)

LATE BLUES

181

(1)

LITANY

182

(6)

ELEGY, NIAGARA FALLS

188

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"Chorale"

Quite difficult, belief.
Quite terrible, faith

that the night, again,
will nominate

you a running mate–
that we are of the elect

& have not yet
found out. That the tide

still might toss us up
another–what eyes

& stars, what teeth!
such arms, alive–

someone we will, all
night, keep. Not

just these spiders
that skitter & cobweb,

share my shivering bed.

-----------------------------------------------

"Ditty"

You, rare as Georgia
snow. Falling

hard. quick.
Candle shadow.

The cold
spell that catches

us by surprise.
The too-early blooms,

tricked, gardenias blown about,
circling wind. Green figs.

Nothing stays. I want
to watch you walk

the hall to the cold tile
bathroom--all

night, a lifetime.

**Click here to send this poem as an animated ecard:
http://www.randomhouse.com/knopf/ecards/young/ecard.html

-----------------------------------------------

"Harvest Song"

Lover you leave me
autumn, tilling, a man

tending his yard,
or one not even

his own. Outskirts
of town a farmer

one-armed, walks his fields
into fire--my neighbor

on his knees with a razor
trims his lawn. Next door

I am in the pines--
grass thirsting, and up

to here in weeds--
poison, neglect,

I have tried to forget--
nothing works. Let

the birds rabbits
termites have the run

of the place, the worms,
I will take them in

-----------------------------------------------

"Elegy, Niagara Falls"
for Bert King, d. 1996

Here snow starts
but does not
stick--stay--

is not enough
to cover
the bare thaw--

ed ground.
Grief is the god that gets us--

good--in the end--
Here--churches
let out

early--in time
to catch the lunch
special--at my local

hotel. Sunday--
even the bus
boy has your

face. And still
having heard
some days later you

were dead--
I haven't caught
sight--day

From the Hardcover edition.

Excerpted from Jelly Roll by Kevin Young
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.