This volume is a rare find for me because, I think, to come up with the poems of such mastery, it must have taken Yusef Komunyakaa a lifetime of serious work to develop such an elevated degree of rhythm, energy, and maturity and then add it to his already existing talent.

The book is divided into three sections. Even though each section concentrates mainly on one area of specific awareness, the richness of the images, musicality, powerful and intellectual thought, and the variety of poetic expression flow through each poem regardless of the section it is placed in.

The references--whether to mythology, history, or common knowledge-- are apt and satisfying, and their usages are far from name throwing, as one comes across the mentions and varied allusions from Eurydice, Orpheus, Morphine, or Tantalus to Alice in Wonderland and James Dean, from Copernicus and Galileo to the Good Book, from Sappho to Basho, or from Nat King Cole to Ravel and Chopin.

In the first section, the first poem Canticle, “Now, kissing you, I am the archheir of second // chances. // Because I know twelve ways to be wrong” impressed me with its emotional wealth. Then the second poem, Janus Preface, awed me again with its artistic and cultivated descriptions of nature. Among the other poems, The Story of a Coat, Eclogue at Midnight and Ten or Eleven Disquises, the observations of detail in people, objects, or ideas are exquisite. In Ode to the Chameleon, “you are always // true, daring the human eye// to see deeper. You are envy // & solace…” the poet allows the interior world to overcome the exterior, just the way he does in many of the poems throughout the book.

The second section of the book contains facts and inferences to World War II in several of the poems like Aubade at Hotel Copernicus, Fata Morgana, English, Poppies, Orpheus at the Second Gate of Hades, Three Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion, A Visit to Inner Sanctum, and The Shortest Night. In Conceived in a Time of War, I believe the poet refers to his own conception and birth, since he was born in 1941. The “you” he refers to is himself. ”You have a Paleolithic brain…Your cry is several broken treaties…Your mind is a scrap of sailcloth //& a wishbone, a theory of perfect // flight…You were born to know hell…”

Begotten may also be about his background since it begins with “I’m the son of poor Mildred and illiterate J.W.” “Grief followed me, saying // Burn your keepsakes…” with lines toward the end, “We dream of going from one desire // to the next. But in the final analysis, // a good thought is the simplest food.”

But then, there are other wars fought without armies or guns, the wars of the demoralized and downtrodden due to race, which are reflected in Blue Dementia and A Poem Written Inside a Big Round Machine.

The third section of the book is expertly crafted from the awareness of the poets’ surroundings, as in Fortune, Flesh, Dangerousness, The White Dog Syndrome, Ode to the Guitar, Daybreak, A Voice on an Answering Machine, Adonis in the Big Apple, The Window Dresser’s Song, and The Beautiful Quickness of a Street Boy. In How It Is, the poet refers to his art as, ““My muse is holding me prisoner //She refuses to give back my shadow…I think she knows, with her kisses // in my mouth, I could walk on water.”

Then in the last poem of the book, Ontology & Guinness, Komunkayaa rejoices in the election of President Obama and the rising of his race.

Whichever poem one concentrates on, personal or universal, this poet’s work is haunting, genuine, and authoritative, without any hint of dryness and with profound emotion competently expressed. In short, I am very happy to have found this book.

enjoying poetry created by a master

everything.

is Yusef Komunyakaa who has won a 1994 Pulitzer for Poetry, 1994 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, and 2007 Louisiana Writer Award. He teaches at New York University.

It is image-rich, powerful, and intellectual without being phony.

Interested in buying this? Support Writing.Com by making your purchase of The Chameleon Couch: Poems   from Amazon.Com!

Created Jan 08, 2018 at 10:01pm • Submit your own review...