Dear Darkness: Poems

This book is great to read when you have just a short reading window. I love the style of writing. I usually read each poem through once, then again to pick up feelings I might have missed on the first reading. All in all, i love this collection of poetry though not all are happy. But you can tell each poem was written from the heart.

Kevin Young's Dear Darkness provides the things of the past with a distinct voice and place in time. At times humorous, heartbreaking, and always sincerely honest, Young's words move with equal parts emotion and music. I recommend this book to anyone who has ever questioned their culture or tapped their foot to a steel guitar. This is the versatility of Young's verse. Wonderful words for first-time readers of poetry and scholars alike. Read this book.

I shared several of these poems with friends. He gets my gastric juices going and makes me want to cook, and to write poetry.

There is a whole world within these pages. Whether talking about food, grief, his father, race, bullies, death, or family, Kevin Young’s poems are accessible, haunting, even amusing sometimes, and down to earth. Quite a feat. I love the way he plays with language as well as the reader’s expectations. The way he uses the lure of food to hook you into another territory. Reading this book was a great way to spend some time in the company of a man with a big heart, keen mind, and deep soul. Lucky me.

It took me several weeks to build up the confidence to actually buy Kevin Young's "Dear Darkness." After all, the book is currently only available in hardcover and $27 is no small chunk of change to spend on a poetry book (especially in this bum economy). But after wearing a hole into my copy of "To the Confederate Dead" (the fantastic book Young published previous to "Dear Darkness"), I knew I would have to suck it up and just buy the darn thing. And I can tell you know, that it is absolutely worth it. Clocking in at nearly 200 pages, "Dear Darkness" is a beautifully hefty book, rich in tone and language. Dealing with the aftermath of his father's death, Young -- an "only son of an only son" -- takes careful pains to illuminate and celebrate everything which fills his life. This means poems about aunties, uncles and cousins, as well as odes to catfish, gumbo and sweet potato pie, alongside poetry riffing on blues songs, childhood bullies and contemporary life in the big city, among numerous other topics. Young is able to brilliantly write about his past and his present, balancing the amber glow of nostalgia with the sharp angles of reality. His work is not without humor or without pathos, and his voice and approach is almost unrelentingly fresh and honest. Sometimes when I read poems built around a theme (of which there are many in this book), I can tell which poems are the "anchor poems" and which were just thrown into the mix to flesh out the theme. But with Young, each piece dazzles, each pieces adds depth and contrast. "Dear Darkness" continues Young's stellar tradition of beautiful, earned, solid books of poetry, and I highly recommend this book to anyone itching for an opportunity to see their world with fresh eyes.

This is my first exposure to Kevin Young, but what I've read is just amazing. His poems roil with wit and emotion, and often dark humor. While a lot Dear Darkness takes on death, for me personally, it is poems exploring his relationships that I keep going back to for more reads (Slow Drag Blues, for example). Young writes concisely, not wasting a word, yet playing with them all the time. The poems read very lyrically and there is a wonderful flow to them. His work is easily digestible, but not mere light weight fluff, which is for me, a winning combination.

Great