Yusef Komunyakaa’s seventeen books of poetry include Taboo, Dien Cai Dau, Neon Vernacular (for which he received the Pulitzer Prize), Warhorses, and most recently The Chameleon Couch and Testimony. His many honors include the William Faulkner Prize (Universite Rennes, France), the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, the Kingsley Tufts Award for Poetry, and the 2011 Wallace Stevens Award. His plays, performance art, and libretti have been performed internationally and include Saturnalia, Testimony, and Gilgamesh: A Verse Play. He teaches at New York University.
Poetry
Spring 2012
Always a Way
There's an echo of Chuck Berry's guitar saying, "As I was motivatin' over the hill I saw Maybellene in a Coupe deVille." Wildflowers have sprung up along the roadside bearing […]
Poetry
Spring 2012
A Prayer
Great Ooga-Booga, in your golden pavilion beside the dung heap, please don't let me die in a public place. I still see the man on the café floor at the […]
Poetry
Spring 2012
K’rar
We have this to call to the dead among the living, this wooden triangle, its belly a gourd-resonator the size of a man's cupped hands inverted, in prayer & war. […]
Poetry
Summer 1998
The Congo Snake
Feet of petty chances, you Came out on the other side Of love & mercy. No one Cares if you rise from the lower world Or not, as something to […]
Poetry
Summer 1998
The Lure
The batfish hides there At the bottom of desire. A fleshy, wormlike lure Dangles freely, luminescent As a French tickler or line From a love song personified. Without eyes or […]
Poetry
Summer 1998
Body of a Woman (Cadavere di Donna)
Here you are, still Reposed behind glass Like a work of art. Yes, Body of precious aloneness, There are times I desire you In a lover’s arms. Sometimes I want […]
Poetry
Summer 1998
Chastity Belt
Invisible catches & secret hooks, bone Within bone & trick locks. If a man needs this to hold Love in place, the master of keys Will always bite his nails […]
Interview
Summer 1998
Still Negotiating with the Images: An Interview with Yusef Komunyakaa
In 1994 Yusef Komunyakaa was awarded both the Pulitzer Prize and the Kingsley Tufts Award for his collection Neon Vernacular: New and Selected Poems. Born and raised in Bogalusa, Louisiana, […]
Poetry
Summer 1998
Hydraulics
When a young man dedicates his life To hydraulics, he can grow into a godhead Overnight. Because ram, pile, lift, jack, & pressure gauge own this man’s tongue, Hercules goes […]
Poetry
Summer 1998
Pan
Elizabeth, I must say, Pan wasn’t raising Cain among the reeds. He had taken off his mask, & was lying there, puffing ganja, Blowing Rasta smoke rings & nibbling on […]
Poetry
Winter 1995
Antebellum Silhouettes
. . . and that this penalty of death was dealt them by their own husband or father or brother as the case might be. —Lillian Smith, Killers of the […]
Poetry
Winter 1995
Netherworlds
The day hurts. Each leaf scribbles crimsoned ocher across the lousy silence. Chocolate cherries wrapped in silver foil make my fillings ache. I am pulled down to the bed. Pages flip. Late October, 1989. Yes, I […]
Poetry
Winter 1995
Nude Study
Someone lightly brushed the penis alive. Belief is almost flesh. Wings beat, dust trying to breathe, as if the figure might rise from the oils & flee the dead artist’s […]
Poetry
Winter 1992
Playthings
1 I swung a switchman’s lantern Against dusk. One moment, a dull Green; the next, somewhere Between molybdate orange & Bloodred. My Mason jar of lightning bugs Flickered. The Rebel […]
Poetry
Winter 1992
Yellow Dog Café
In a cerulean ruckus Of quilts, we played house Off the big room where They laughed & slowdraggedWeekends. The eagle flies On Friday. The jukebox pulsed A rainbow through papery […]
Poetry
Winter 1992
Immigrants
Lured by the cobalt Stare of blast furnaces, They talked to the dead & unborn. Their demons & gods came with black rhinoceros powder In ivory boxes with secret Latches […]
Poetry
Winter 1992
Gristmill
Black hands shucked & shelled corn into a washtub While a circle of ancient voices Hummed “Lil’ Liza Jane.” Daddy shouldered a hundred-pound sack To Mister Adam’s gristmill. The place […]
Poetry
Spring 1991
Fleshing-out the Season
They said he lived in both houses.That the black womanOnce worked as a maidFor his wife. The womenSometimes met in town & talkedLike old friends, would hug & kissBefore parting. […]
Poetry
Spring 1991
Knights of the White Camellia & Deacons of Defense
They were in a big circleBeside Mitch Creek, as it murmuredLike a murderer tossing in his sleepBetween a wife & daughter, demureAs Sartre’s Respectable ProstituteOn a feathered bed in July.The […]
Poetry
Spring 1991
History Lessons
1 Squinting up at leafy sunlight, I stepped back & shaded my eyes, but couldn’t see what she pointed to. The courthouse lawn where the lone poplar stood Was almost […]