Jelly Roll
Young, Kevin., Kevin Young · 2003
Where to buy
Check today’s price on Amazon. We do not show prices because they change daily.
View on AmazonAffiliate link. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
About the book
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.
Book details
- Year
- 2003
- Language
- English
- Publisher
- Knopf
- Editions
- 1
- Pages
- 190
- ISBN
- 9780375414602
Data source: Wikidata
