Hurricane Song
Kevin Young
Lady, won’t you wait
out the hurricane
all night at my place –
we’ll take cover like
the lamps & I’ll
let you oil
my scalp. Please, I needs
a good woman’s hands
caught in my hair, turning
my knots to butter.
All night we’ll churn.
Dawn
will lean in too soon –
you’ll leave out into
the wet world, winded
& alone, knowing
the me only
midnight sees.
About this poem
“‘Hurricane Song’ is an outtake from my book ‘Jelly Roll: A Blues.’ A series of such bonus tracks are included in my new book ‘Blue Laws: Selected & Uncollected Poems 1995-2015,’ due out in February of 2016.” – Kevin Young
About Kevin Young
Kevin Young is the author of “Book of Hours” (Knopf, 2014). He is the Candler Professor and curator at Emory University in Atlanta.
The Academy of American Poets is a nonprofit, mission-driven organization, whose aim is to make poetry available to a wider audience. Email The Academy at poem-a-day@poets.org.
(c) 2015 Kevin Young. Originally published by the Academy of American Poets, www.poets.org. Distributed by King Features Syndicate.
