The poems of Kevin Young vary in length and form, yet they all clearly represent him and his style of poetry-writing. Summarised below are a selection of his poems:
Bling Bling Blues: In this poem, the speaker reveals the change in his financial and social situation. He tells of how when dancing, hunger used to consume him, being his only companion, yet now, when he complains it is only about trivial things, such as the shoes he is wearing, which happen to be diamond, being painful on his feet, or the prosperity of his life causing his wallet to lack room to hold the notes he has. He thanks the Lord for his leading him down this path. Two other signs of his new lifestyle in comparison with the old are the luxury style of platinum-coated teeth and golden seats in their car. Amongst the names he is called, all colloquial, such as ‘Homey,’ a reference to his new-found money is made. It was at one time the case that his father was represented in every stranger, but now his scars and personal battles are worth something, as he has them insured, and it is assumed he has possession of diamonds. Finally, the extent of his wealth but also his generosity are shown in that he buys his mother a golden coloured house.
Ode to the Hotel Near the Children’s Hospital: The speaker gives ‘praise,’ to many aspects of this building, including beds that are not similar to the hospital because they can’t be adjusted to allow a patient to eat or receive injections or even blood. They also do not move to allow one to watch an inadequate TV, and the hotel has a better one of those too, that doesn’t stop and start. The speaker even praises the fact there is no room service, revealing the comfort of pizza delivery and take-out bags that are dripping with grease. The vending machines, money in the form of change and the warmth brought through the heating and the water, that can be replaced by the noisy air conditioning are all given credit, especially the latter for helping those perhaps worrying for loved ones in the hospital to sleep. Praise is given to those who work in this hotel and are aware of the need to give a wake-up call to specific rooms if the hospital rings them. The phone that doesn’t ring is bliss, allowing the “do not disturb” sign to be hung on the door. Credit is given to those who change the beds, when they are sweaty and unpleasant. And the relief of checking out and returning home to one’s own bed, that although not made up for one’s convenience, mean no more tubes or machines, just a child sleeping the way they should be, in a bed that does not move either. The final line notes how great it is to have a mess that ‘can be left.’
I am Trying to Break Your Heart: This poem speaks of a revengeful consideration on the part of the speaker. Their desire is to present the subject of the poem as a stuffed animal, as they state what condition they wish to leave them throughout the poem. The speaker begins by relaying their desire to hang this person up on their wall, revealing their shame. The speaker also enjoys the skill of taxidermy, giving examples of its work like fish portrayed as leaping on the wall, the skulls of animals being used as paperweights, and their desire to wear the happiness of the subject as an item of clothing along their sleeve, whilst they break their heart, as if they were a wild horse being tamed, or as if the speaker is breaking their heart like the leg of said horse.
A description of the process of breaking a horse is given: the speaker recognises that for a while they will be thrown off the horse, but then they will be under their command. They demand to be ‘put […] down.’ Their desires become deeper and more personal then. They want to refer to the subject as ‘thine’ as well as to get a tattoo stating the word ‘mercy,’ along their own knuckles. The violence in the speaker’s nature is expressed and they desire to have the subject on their knees in prayer and to recognise them in such a position. They speak of being lonely as a scientific art, giving the example of the taxidermist and their attempt to prevent the loss of skin.
Song of Smoke The speaker in this poem reveals their fascination with the subject walking across a room, wearing black corduroy trousers. To them, it is like seeing civilization beginning. They describe the swishing sound of the trousers as they walk and the dynamic and fierce ‘strut,’ of their walk which reminds them of a flint rock creating sparks or some cord rubbed to create friction and smoke.
This subject’s walk moves them like coal, as they smoulder for some time. The speaker reveals the fact this experience ages and matures them through pointing out that they no longer feel merely a ‘Boy Scout,’ and the flame of the subject’s walk cannot be extinguished. They keep the smouldering of the speaker hot, as if they are simply an iron unused of late. The fierce and fire-like attitude of this subject is a threat to even houses made of bricks, suggesting it could burn them down. The speaker is left as if they were a chimney, empty and holding the fire.
Early Show
The speaker describes a place as having faint and diluted darkness, where although the blinds are closed, the light of the dawn still comes through. They comment that this won’t help them to sleep or aid a closer nature to be developed between themselves and another. The beds they sleep on are two pushed together, but the gap in between is widening. Speaking of a plant that needs water, the speaker relates this to their own mind, telling how it is overgrown and ‘wild,’ even without care or water.
Mentioning an unnamed person, the speaker says that no noise will wake him, not the cry of a truck reversing or a lady that knocks on the door to change towels. She does not change the sheets. At around lunchtime they name it the ‘adultery hour.’ The speaker says that many people go to the doctor’s, practising their symptoms. They get more time off work to go there. Desperation is summarised as ‘DO NOT DISTURB,’ and the loud yet subdued sound of the couple in the room next door, that practically live there but still pay weekly. Love can be an indefinite and changing time period. They say that silence is even worse though: the silence after an argument.
During the time that those inferior within a job begin to take off their clothes, the speaker runs the hot tap, using what little is left, although the amount is hard to know. It creates a foggy steam on the mirror, apparently like that on the windows of cars in the car park at prom. The speaker can no longer see themselves in this steamed-up mirror. The speaker states that ‘despair,’ is when the crackly sound of the radio says the game has been cancelled because there is too much sun. This is the first time this has happened.
