Fearless Laughter: Yusef Komunyakaa Advises Young Poets
by Elizabeth Hoover / May 25, 2011 / No comments
Video editing and production by Glen Wood
Yusef Komunyakaa’s richly sonorous poetry is forged over hundreds of painstaking revision as the poet compresses his language down what is most essential.
In these lines from “The Whistle,” you can hear the pure music of Komunyakaa’s poetry.
The seven o’clock whistle
Made the morning air fulvous
With a metallic syncopation
A key to a door in the sky—opening
& closing flesh. The melody
Men & women built lives around.
In this interview, conducted with Sampsonia Way while Komunyakaa was in town for City of Asylum/Pittsburgh’s Jazz Poetry festival, he explains his writing and revision process, gives advice to young poets, and discusses the importance of silence in making his work.
Watch Komunyakaa’s interview on racism in America history.
Read Elizabeth’s bio.
