Artist's Note
鈥淲e sleep long, / if not sound,鈥 Kevin Young writes early on in this exquisite gathering of poems, 鈥淭ill the end/ we sing / into the wind.鈥 In scenes and settings that circle family and the generations in the American South鈥搊ne poem, 鈥淜ith,鈥 exploring that strange bedfellow of 鈥渒in鈥濃搕he speaker and his young son wander among the stones of their ancestors. 鈥淟ike heat he seeks them, / my son, thirsting / to learn those / he don鈥檛 know / are his dead.鈥
Whether it鈥檚 the fireflies of a Louisiana summer caught in a mason jar (doomed by their collection), or his grandmother, Mama Annie, who latches the screen door when someone steps out for just a moment, all that makes up our flickering precarious joy, all that we want to protect, is lifted into the light in this moving book. Stones becomes an ode to Young鈥檚 home places and his dear departed, and to what of them鈥攐f us鈥攑oetry can save.
About the Artist
Kevin Young, a member of the Academy and of the Commission on the Arts, is a poet and director of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Kevin Young
Additional Notes
From Stones: Poems by Kevin Young. Copyright 漏 2021 by Kevin Young. Excerpted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Commission on the Arts
The Commission - drawing on the expertise of its members who are artists, scholars, activists, and leaders, as well as the input of people across the country who participated in listening sessions - dedicated itself to recognizing and supporting the essential role of the arts and artists in American life.