Encompassing America's African-American landscape and rich oral histories of the South, this poetry collection centers on the concept of "home" and explores conflicts between black and white, North and South, ancestral and modern.
About the Author
Kevin Young, author of this National Poetry Series winner, also published Giant Steps: African American Voices at the Crossroads of the Century. He teaches at the University of Georgia.
Praise For…
"First books rarely sing with such controlled music. Young has a distinctive and unforgettable voice, virtuosic style, and mature command of his material. Any of these poems testifies to Young's genius. A marvelous book, a marvelous poet." --Booklist
"In Young's alchemy, succulent scraps are gathered from daily life, distilled, and emerge, finally, as portable nuggets of home, carried wherever the poet may travel." --The Voice Literary Supplement
"Young's descriptions of poverty and suffering are vivid and moving, and the poems grow stronger as they move beyond a conventional mix of nostalgia and rage to a more thoughtful and transcendent vision." --Library Journal
"A rock-solid book, something you could grab hold of." --John Yau
"This poet's gift of storytelling and understanding of the music inherent in the oral tradition of language re-creates for us an inner history which is compelling and authentic and American." --Lucille Clifton
