At our peril, we ignore the fact that black vernacular, like the blues, both has a form and performs... For just as there would be no American music without black folks, there would be very little of our American language. — Kevin Young Copy Share Image
It's hard to describe one's own alchemy that makes one into a writer, but I definitely think American language is so interesting, and specifically Southern language and black Southern language; it's hard to separate Southern language from black language. — Kevin Young Copy Share Image
There's always been really interesting, diverse black voices talking and arguing and counterpointing. — Kevin Young Copy Share Image
I think Barnum is at the center of American culture. He's helping to invent what we now think of as pop culture. He invented… — Kevin Young Copy Share Image
I do think there's a certain savviness to be able to recognize the way people want a good story, and I think that we… — Kevin Young Copy Share Image
Here are the facts: my folks grew up so poor that, in the words of Redd Foxx, there were twenty o's between the p… — Kevin Young Copy Share Image
Even Toni Morrison claiming Bill Clinton as 'black' could not prepare us for the election of America's first undeniably black president, Barack Obama. — Kevin Young Copy Share Image
A DJ draws a connection between two seemingly disparate things and says, 'Look, they are alike. You can dance to them.' — Kevin Young Copy Share Image
Forget reparations - we need to rescue aspects of black culture abandoned even by black folks, whether it is the blues or home cookin'… — Kevin Young Copy Share Image
I remember in the '80s, people would literally have arguments over the best guitarist. — Kevin Young Copy Share Image
In African-American culture, there's often a family historian, someone who does the genealogy or keeps the family Bible. I became aware that might be… — Kevin Young Copy Share Image
“Deep Song Belief is what buries us—that & the belief in belief— No longer do I trust liltlessness —leeward is the world's way—Go on… — Kevin Young Copy Share Image
That sense of mystery, but also of revelation, is what I turn to poems for. They're able to embody experience. We need more and… — Kevin Young Copy Share Image
In a long poem or a sequence of poems, you're trying to formalize your obsessions and give them a shape and a name. The… — Kevin Young Copy Share Image
We quickly erase hoaxes once exposed, excising the monstrous palimpsest, because as with any witch hunt or obvious fake, afterward we can't quite explain… — Kevin Young Copy Share Image
