{"product_id":"night-watch-poems-hardcover","title":"Night Watch: Poems - Hardcover","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eKevin Young\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom the award-winning poet at the height of his career, a book of personal and American experiences, both beautiful and troubling, touching on the generative cycle of loss and renewal\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFollowing on his exquisite \u003ci\u003eStones\u003c\/i\u003e, Kevin Young's new collection, written over the span of sixteen years, shapes stories of loss and legacy, inspired in part by other lives. After starting in the bayous of his family's Louisiana, Young journeys to further states of mind in \"All Souls,\" evoking \"The whale \/ who finds the shore \/ \u0026amp; our poor prayers.\" Another central sequence, \"The Two-Headed Nightingale,\" is spoken by Millie-Christine McCoy, the famous conjoined African American \"Carolina Twins.\" Born into enslavement, stolen, and then displayed by P. T. Barnum and others, the twins later toured the world as free women, their alto and soprano voices harmonizing their own way. Young's poem explores their evolving philosophical selfhood and pluralities: \"As one we sang, \/we spake-- \/ She was the body \/ I the soul \/ Without one \/ Perishes the whole.\"\u003cbr\u003e In \"Darkling,\" a cycle of poems inspired by Dante's \u003ci\u003eDivine Comedy\u003c\/i\u003e, Young expands and embroiders the circles of Hell, drawing a cosmology of both loneliness and accompaniment, where \"the dead don't know \/ what to do \/ with themselves.\" Young writes of grief and hope as familiar yet surprising states: \"It's like a language, \/ loss--,\" he writes, \"learnt only \/ by living--there--.\" Evoking the history of poetry, from the darkling thrush to the darkling plain, Young is defiant and playful on the way through purgatory to a kind of paradise. When he goes, he warns, \"don't dare sing \u003ci\u003eAmazing Grace\u003c\/i\u003e\"--that \"National \/ Anthem of Suffering.\" Instead, he suggests, \"When I Fly Away, \/ Don't dare hold no vigil . . . Just burn the whole \/ Town on down.\"\u003cbr\u003e This collection will stand as one of Young's best--his voice shaping sorrow with music, wisdom, heartache, and wit.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eKEVIN YOUNG is the author of sixteen books of poetry and prose, including his most recent, \u003ci\u003eNight Watch. \u003c\/i\u003eHe is the poetry editor of \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e, where he hosts the Poetry Podcast, and the editor of eleven volumes, including \u003ci\u003eA Century of Poetry in the New Yorker, 1925-2025\u003c\/i\u003e and the acclaimed anthology \u003ci\u003eAfrican American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle \u0026amp; Song\u003c\/i\u003e. He currently serves as the Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 176\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.79 x 9.13 x 5.98 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e September 02, 2025\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45132429525036,"sku":"9780593319628","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0618\/6260\/8940\/files\/y3xBukyscc9780593319628.webp?v=1766091314","url":"https:\/\/littleredgeneralstore.com\/products\/night-watch-poems-hardcover","provider":"Little Red General Store","version":"1.0","type":"link"}