Jelly Roll: A Blues - The Poetry Shop

Jelly Roll: A Blues

$20.00
Sale price  $20.00 Regular price  $25.00
Skip to product information
Jelly Roll: A Blues - The Poetry Shop

Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

Jelly Roll: A Blues

$20.00
Sale price  $20.00 Regular price  $25.00
In stock

Ships directly from US distribution partners.
Economy (6-10 days) or Express (2-3 days)

Most orders arrive in less than a week.

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

ISBN:
9780375709890
Binding:
Paperback
Pages:
208
Authors:
Kevin Young
Publisher:
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published Date:
2005-02-01
Language:
English

You may also like