Yusef Komunyakaa
Yusef Komunyakaa was born in Bogalusa, Louisiana and served in the U.S.Army in Viet Nam. He has taught at Indiana University, Princeton and NYU. Jazz, Southern culture, race, war and ceremony all play an important role in his many books, which include Copacetic (Wesleyan, 1984), the Pulitzer-winning Neon Vernacular (Wesleyan, 1993) and Taboo (Farrar Straus and Giroux, 2004). His most recent collection is The Emperor of Water Clocks (Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2015). He has also received the Kingsley Tufts Award and the Ruth Lilly Prize. "Jasmine" first appeared in Shenandoah 50/3. Jasmine
I sit kitty-corner on the stage as Elvin’s sticks blur the club into a blue fantasia. I thought my body had forgotten the Deep South, how I’d cross the street if a woman like these two walked towards me, as … Continue reading