Sakura of DOOM

I was first introduced to Kevin Young via heresluck's two posts and further prompted by coffeeandink's praise.

I don't usually read poetry; the last time I have seriously was probably for school. I feel like a lot of it goes over my head, and I tend to speed through poetry and not get the effect until later. I think I've read Jelly Roll about three times now, some poems maybe more, and while it's hard for me to place it in my personal ranking of poetry, as I have none, I really like it.

Kevin Young does the blues in this book, as the subtitle notes, and the collection goes through the familiar arch of love, loss, and lament. What I noticed most was Young's playfulness with the language: most of the poems are drawn-out metaphors. I am sure this is common to poetry (?), and can't say how different Young's is, save that it felt fresh to me, and many of the poems made me laugh with their invention and cheek and delight. I tend to like the first third of the collection better, probably because I gravitate toward happy cheerful music, and I particularly love it when Young uses food in his poetry, for the obvious reasons ;).

My favorite poems are the ones like "Disaster Movie Theme Music" or "Blues" (below); I can almost hear the music, deep bass twanging through your heart overlaid with a raspy, whiskey voice.

Below are some of the poems I remembered most, but I had a very hard time choosing (ergo reading some of the poems more than a few times); so many of them have a wonderful turn of phrase or a drawn-out metaphor that I love.

( Blues )

( Ragtime )