What a strangely fascinating and fascinatingly strange collection from the late period of one of our foremost poets. I've not read Komunyakaa's most celebrated early collections, though the excerpts I have read were ferocious and uncompromising in ways I wasn't expecting. This collection generally isn't quite that, but rather it breathes in long sighs, all smoke and jazzy rhythm when it wants to be sultry, or coiled and controlled when it needs to be something else. We get some seriously horny poems fixated on mythological happenings, more than a smattering of historical poems set all across the ages and occasionally outside of time, and perhaps my favorite, musical verse about the music itself and the musicians behind the tunes. There's an enormous amount of material here, in terms of sheer poetic volume--we're talking 350ish pages--but the energy never flags, the light never dims.

I find it hard to recommend poetry to others as the art itself is so dependent on the reader's willingness to engage and meet the poet somewhere in the aether, and I could ramble on about expectations and subjectivity and linguistic preferences, the endless (meaningless) search for meaning, and all that, but I'll just say: if you're curious, give it a try. Sample a few poems in a bookstore; pull up an excerpt online. It's a collection worth exploring, and only you know if you're up for the adventure.

Yusef Komunyakaa is an American poet who teaches at New York University. His books of poems include ‘Warhorses’ (FSG, 2008), ‘Taboo’ (FSG, 2004), and ‘Neon Vernacular: New and Selected Poems’, for which he received the 1994 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award and the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. He also received the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize.

“Yusef Komunyakaa’s poems reveal a unique understanding of the landscape of morality and justice in America; this collection brings together some of his most essential from the last two decades, a gift for both fans and newcomers alike. The result is a well-deserved testament to the power and weight of his work.” —Lit Hub

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Dead Reckoning III
Yusef Komunyakaa

They work fingers to bone, & borrow
smudged paper, then make promises
to family, unmerciful gods, the unborn.
Some eat a favorite meal three times
in a row. Others partake only a pinch
of soil before boarding half-broken boats
& rubber rafts—half of the young women
big with life inside them, flesh & blood
for daydreams of the Arabian nights,
as makeshift charts & constellations
work their way through war & rumors
of war. The smugglers count their loot.
Hard winds rattle gongs over sea salt
till the rusty engines die, & their cries
moonstruck sirens, pirated schooners
adrift under a mute sky, rock to & fro,
& the fight goes out of the few alive.
Their relatives & friends, old lost folk
songs, mountains & valleys, all left
behind. Searchlights spot the dead
hugging the living. Draglines raise them.
Pray for those who’re braver than us.
The lucky ones stumble out of stupor,
tried by raging water in morning light,
enchanted by lingo of the albatross.

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A huge thank you to @NetGalley and @fsgbooks for an ARC of ‘Everyday Mojo Songs of Earth’ by Yusef Komunyakaa.

“Everyday Mojo Songs of Earth” is a collection of new thoughts and reprinted classics by Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa. Every line paints a vivid and inspiring picture of the world around us. The geography, the people, and the thoughts are diverse and varied. They enable readers to perceive the world as someone else perceives it. The collection is life affirming and thought provoking.
I was given a review copy of” Everyday Mojo Songs of Earth” by Yusef Komunyakaa and Farrar, Straus and Giroux. I want to diversify my reading and “Everyday Mojo Songs of Earth” does that wonderfully. No matter what one reads every day, every reader should regularly pick up a book of poetry such as this for life-affirming regeneration.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ebook ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Everyday Mojo Songs of Earth by Yusef Komunyakaa is a brilliant collection of poems that span twenty years. They have their own concise verse reflecting an earthy tone with a variety of lyrical flow. An enjoyable read, I highly recommend.

Everyday Mojo Songs of Earth is musical and lyrical poetry, complete with fresh images that pair in memorable ways. A recommended voice in verse.

Everyday Mojo Songs of Earth is a wonderful poem collection by Yusef Komunyakaa, consisting of both new and older work.