Jumping Bad Blues

Books by Yusef Komunyakaa

I Apologize for the Eyes in My Head / Dien Cai Dau / Magic City / Neon Vernacular / Toys in a Field

Thieves of Paradise / Talking Dirty to the Gods / Pleasure Dome / Jazz Poetry Anthology / The Second Set / Taboo: The Wishbone Trilogy

Blue Notes: Essays, Interviews, and Commentaries

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Jumping Bad Blues

By Yusef Komunyakaa

I've played cool,

hung out with the hardest

bargains, but never copped a plea.

I've shot dice head's up

with Poppa Stoppa

& helped him nail

his phenomena luck

to the felt floor with snake eyes.

I've fondled my life in back rooms,

called Jim Crow out of his mansion

in Waycross, Georgia, & taught

him a lesson he'll never forget.

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Conversations with Yusef Komunyakaa

Edited by Shirley A. James Hanshaw

Conversations with Yusef Komunyakaa brings together over two decades of interviews and profiles with one of America's most prolific and acclaimed contemporary poets. Yusef Komunyakaa (b. 1947) describes his work alternately as "word paintings" and as "music," and his affinity with the visual and aural arts is amply displayed in these conversations. The volume also addresses the diversity and magnitude of Komunyakaa's literary output. His collaborations with artists in a variety of genres, including music, dance, drama, opera, and painting have produced groundbreaking performance pieces. Throughout the collection, Komunyakaa's interest in finding and creating poetry across the artistic spectrum is made manifest.

For his collection Neon Vernacular: New and Selected Poems, 1977-1989, Komunyakaa became the first African American male to win the Pulitzer Prize for poetry. Through his work he provides keen insight into life's mysteries from seemingly inconsequential and insignificant life forms ("Ode to the Maggot") to some of the most compelling historical and life-altering events of our time, such as the Vietnam War ("Facing It"). Influenced strongly by jazz, blues, and folklore, as well as the classical poetic tradition, his poetry comprises a riveting chronicle of the African American experience.

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updated 3 April 2010