Jelly Roll: A Blues

Jelly Roll: A Blues

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 â€œStride Piano,â€ â€œGutbucket,â€ and â€œCan-Can,â€ these poems have the sharp completeness of vocalized songs and follow a classic blues trajectory: praising and professing undying devotion (â€œTo watch you walk / cross the room in your black / corduroys is to see / civilization startâ€), only to end up lamenting the loss of love (â€œNo use driving / like rain, past / where you atâ€). 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, Youngâ€™s voice is pure American: joyous in its individualism and singing of the self at its strongest.
Country USA
Brand Knopf
Manufacturer Knopf
Binding Paperback
ItemPartNumber unknown
Color White
ReleaseDate 2005-02-01
UnitCount 1
EANs 9780375709890

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