Kevin Young reads to Portland from “Dear Darkness”
Emory Professor of English Kevin Young. Young celebrated the release of his latest book “Dear Darkness” (Alfred A. Knopf), a book that is a tribute to culture, to family and to loss. His poems are always musical, but Dear Darkness” goes beyond his former and purely blues or jazz-inspired poetry, and includes Country Western music, with two references to Johnny Cash and one song devoted to the graying, wheezing Johnny Paycheck, loss after loss. The book is full of odes, shades of Neruda to ordinary things, Young’s odes involve food – grits, pork, hot sauce, chicken. They are amazing, and yet, they’ll break your heart, for embedded in the lines is the death of part of Young, himself, after the passing away of his father, who is mentioned repeatedly, along with repeat appearances by several other family members, as well. A departure from Young’s earlier work, these poems have bars and whiskey and a poet who is observing the world alone and more keenly than before. You won’t be disappointed, though, with “Dear Darkness.” It is rich with real life, from Louisiana, to Atlanta, to Boston, traces of Kansas and the other places that he’s known. Gorgeous poetry, heartfelt words, all distilled down to people who matter, places that shaped those people, and the culture Young carries with him in his heart. Destined to become a classic, the black-eyed peas depicted as stars against the night sky could not be more perfect. This volume will draw you in slowly, like the basting of barbeque sauce on a slow simmer, and the words will take over, speaking to a place within you that knows hunger, darkness, loss and home — whatever that means.
