The BlueIris Semi-Nightly Poetry Break, 12/17/07 Bonus

[BlueIris]

"Constance"

In the far room
they strip your
bed clean     stretch
Connie out     along bare
matress ticking     this
aunt who baked
fruitcakes     into rain
bows     gave them
away     one color
at a time     her shoes now
stumbled over their own
shadows     now twisted
to the ground     for good
you don't want to hear sisters
hiking the dress over
her head     try not to picture
her cameos     placed
in crooked drawers     don't
offer your hands of vine
as the Ladies of the First
Baptist Missionary
Outreach & Choir wipe
her face     heavens      you don't
want to know     if the raven
in her hair has flown
back     if her eyes are still
the color of railroad pennies

—Kevin Young

[BlueIris]

1. Wiki entry about Kevin Young:

I'm trying to find a better bio of him, but there are so many tasty ones to choose from!

Kevin Young (November 8, 1970— ) is an American poet, heavily influenced by the poet Langston Hughes and the art and poetry of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Young was educated at Brown and Harvard Universities, and while in Boston, he was part of the African-American poetry group, The Dark Room Collective.

Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, Young is the author of "Ode to the Midwest", Most Way Home, To Repel Ghosts, Jelly Roll, Black Maria, and editor of Giant Steps: The New Generation of African American Writers; Blues Poems and John Berryman's Selected Poems.

His "Black Cat Blues", originally published in The Virginia Quarterly Review, was included in The Best American Poetry 2005.

His book of poems Jelly Roll was nominated for the National Book Award.

Kevin now teaches writing at Emory University, where he is the Atticus Haygood Professor of English and Creative Writing.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

3. Thanks for posting this.

Funny...I wanted more and here it is!!!

[BlueIris]

4. I thought it would be helpful for people to have some background on him.

[BlueIris]

2. Kick.

[BlueIris]

5. Kick.

[ThomCat]

6. This one is very cool.

You can feel love and grief in this one.

[BlueIris]

7. Kevin Young is a great writer.

[BlueIris]

8. Kick.

[RainDog]

9. Love Kevin Young

I heard him read a few years ago. In the layout of the poem he's getting that same cadence.

[BlueIris]

10. You got to hear him read? I am jealous...JEALOUS. nt

[RainDog]

11. okay, well get... jealouser

The place where I used to work - (that I thought the owner was ready to sell as she said to me many times but noooooo) -was the wall Young used when he was on the cover of Poets and Writers a few years back. Not only that, I sat down the aisle from him at a restaurant.

Do you also like Dean Young? - very different, but somehow one reminded me of the other. Actually, I know why but I don't want you to reach jealousest.

[BlueIris]

13. Consider me at jealouser, but not quite jealous-est.

(Jealousest would require you to have done grad work with Young at Brown, like a teacher of mine had back in the day. It was hard being in her class after that; very difficult to concentrate through the envy.)

[ornotna]

12. This is good

I like This poem. Thanks for posting.

Some thing I posted a couple of years back, you might enjoy it.

Check it out if you like.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=335x80

[BlueIris]

15. Hey. Niiiiice. nt

[RetroLounge]

14. Very Nice...

thank you for this. His cadence is gorgeous...

:hi:

RL