Blue Notes

Blue Notes offers an assortment of poet Yusef Komunyakaa`s writing on contemporary poetry and music. The book is arranged in four sections. The first gathers essays on the work of poets and blues and jazz musicians influential to Komunyakaa`s work, from Langston Hughes and Etheridge Knight to Ma Rainey and Thelonious Monk; the second collects a gallery of Komunyakaa`s poems and the poet`s commentary about each of them. The third selects interviews that reveal the development of the poet`s aesthetic sensibility. The final section consists of tour artistic explorations that reflect the poet`s current interests. Two of these texts, Tenebrae and Buddy`s Monologue, have been recently performed. As editor Radiclani Clytus makes clear in the volume`s introductory essay, although Komunyakaa`s poetry has its roots in the stylistic innovations of early twentieth-century American modernists, his writing often reflects his understanding that a black experience should not particularize the presentation of one`s art. This volume, according to the editor, is an attempt to understand Komunyakaa`s critical eclecticism within the context of his own words. Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005. For personal use only. All rights reserved.