Dear Darkness

( 1 )
Pick Up In Store

Pick Up in Store

Reserve and pick up in 60 minutes at your local store

Paperback
$14.14
BN.com price
$18.00 List Price (Save 21%)
Marketplace (New and Used)
from
$1.32
$18.00 List Price (Save 93%)
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
All (21)  
Used (5)  
New (16)  
Close
Sort by
Page 1 of 3
Showing 1 – 10 of 21 (3 pages)
$1.32
(Save 93%)
Goodwillnyonline
Seller since 2009

Feedback rating:

(552)

Condition:

New — never opened or used in original packaging.

Like New — packaging may have been opened. A "Like New" item is suitable to give as a gift.

Very Good — may have minor signs of wear on packaging but item works perfectly and has no damage.

Good — item is in good condition but packaging may have signs of shelf wear/aging or torn packaging. All specific defects should be noted in the Comments section associated with each item.

Acceptable — item is in working order but may show signs of wear such as scratches or torn packaging. All specific defects should be noted in the Comments section associated with each item.

Used — An item that has been opened and may show signs of wear. All specific defects should be noted in the Comments section associated with each item.

Refurbished — A used item that has been renewed or updated and verified to be in proper working condition. Not necessarily completed by the original manufacturer.

Good
Good

Ships from: Astoria, NY

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$1.99
(Save 89%)
One Planet Books
Seller since 2009

Feedback rating:

(2466)

Condition: Good
SOME HIGHLIGHTING AND PRICE STICKER

Ships from: Columbia, MO

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$8.57
(Save 52%)
Big River Books
Seller since 2010

Feedback rating:

(1379)

Condition: New
2010 Paperback New We ship daily Monday-Friday.

Ships from: Powder Springs, GA

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$8.74
(Save 51%)
Books Any
Seller since 2010

Feedback rating:

(1916)

Condition: New
2010 Trade paperback New. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 196 p.

Ships from: Valley Stream, NY

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$9.67
(Save 46%)
PaperbackshopUS
Seller since 2009

Feedback rating:

(4793)

Condition: New
Shipped from US in 4 to 14 business days. Established seller since 2000

Ships from: Aurora, IL

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
$10.80
(Save 40%)
Textbookcenter.com
Seller since 2005

Feedback rating:

(46116)

Condition: Very Good
SHIPS FAST! via UPS(AK/HI Priority Mail) within 24 hrs/ used sticker/some hilite

Ships from: Columbia, MO

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$10.92
(Save 39%)
PaperbackshopUS
Seller since 2009

Feedback rating:

(4793)

Condition: New
Shipped from US in 4 to 14 business days. Established seller since 2000

Ships from: Aurora, IL

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
$10.94
(Save 39%)
indoo
Seller since 2007

Feedback rating:

(21684)

Condition: New
BRAND NEW

Ships from: Avenel, NJ

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
$10.99
(Save 39%)
PaperbackshopUS
Seller since 2009

Feedback rating:

(4793)

Condition: New
Shipped from US in 4 to 14 business days. Established seller since 2000

Ships from: Aurora, IL

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
$10.99
(Save 39%)
ExpeditedBooksUS
Seller since 2010

Feedback rating:

(887)

Condition: New
Shipped from US. Express shipping in 3 to 6 business days. Standard shipping in 4 to 14 business days. Established seller since 2000

Ships from: Aurora, IL

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
Page 1 of 3
Showing 1 – 10 of 21 (3 pages)
Close
Sort by

Overview

Delivered in Young’s classic bluesy tone, this powerful collection of poems about the American family, smoky Southern food, and the losses that time inevitably brings “bristles with life, nerve and, best of all, wit” (San Francisco Chronicle).
See more details below
Sending request ...

More About This Book

Overview

Delivered in Young’s classic bluesy tone, this powerful collection of poems about the American family, smoky Southern food, and the losses that time inevitably brings “bristles with life, nerve and, best of all, wit” (San Francisco Chronicle).

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

Perhaps the most prominent African-American poet of his generation, the prolific Young (For the Confederate Dead) begins his sixth book, which gathers sets of independent short poems-some very funny, some heartbreaking, almost all in deftly enjambed, uncommonly various lines-with evocations of his childhood, at once cozy and surrounded by half-secret threats: "Back/ in the day, my mother cut my afro/ every few months, bathroom layered/ with headlines proclaiming the world's end." Young then launches into odes to foods, many (but not all) of them from African-American traditions: "I know you're the blues/ because loving you/ may kill me," says "Ode to Pork." Other work finds lessons in country and country-rock music ("On Being the Only Black Person at the Johnny Paycheck Concert"). For all the humor, and all the autobiography, in this big book, Young digs deepest and sounds most powerful when he returns to the unlucky, unlovely, generalized personae of blues, who become in his hands at once a source of energy and a means for elegy: "Let me be what/ dust has to be, settling// over everything," he says in the bluesy "Lullaby," "& I promise to dream// of new houses & old/ loves no longer." (Sept.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Library Journal

National Book Award finalist Young (Jelly Roll) energizes the poems in his latest collection with subtle and not-so-subtle references to songs as well as to biblical passages. The book's title alludes to Simon and Garfunkle's "The Sounds of Silence" (1965), which was partly inspired by the assassination of JFK. Occasioned by the death of Young's father, these poems muse on the disconnections of life, generally using free association with religious, historical, and racial undertones, though there are a few list poems. Divided into several sections, this book asks the question, How does losing a parent affect one's view of life and even of one's deepest self? In answer, Young recounts scenes from his own childhood as well as his father's illness, death, funeral procession, and bereavement dinner. Reminiscent of Marc Connelly's play, "The Green Pastures," the final section contains a series of informal odes to various foods that would be found in a picnic. Ultimately, the collection effectively becomes an exercise in soul-searching even as it eulogizes Young's father. Highly recommended for all libraries.
—Diane Scharper

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780307264428
  • Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
  • Publication date: 7/6/2010
  • Pages: 216
  • Sales rank: 832,892
  • Product dimensions: 6.00 (w) x 8.90 (h) x 0.80 (d)

Meet the Author

Kevin Young is the author of five previous collections of poetry. The recipient of many honors and awards, including the Paterson Poetry Prize and a Guggenheim Fellowship, he is currently the Atticus Haygood Professor of English and Creative Writing and curator of the Raymond Danowski Poetry Library at Emory University in Atlanta.

Read an Excerpt

EulogyTo allow silenceTo admit it in usalways movingJust pastsenses, the darknessWhat swallows usand we live amongstWhat lives amongst us*These grim anchorsThat brief sanctitythe seaCast quite farwhen you seek—in your hats blackand kerchiefs—to bury me*Do not weepbut once, and a longtime thenThereafter eat tillyour stomach spills overNo more! you’ll crytoo full for your eyesto leak*The words will wait*Place me in a plainpine box I have beenfor years buildingIt is splintersnot silverIt is filled of hair*Even the tonguesof bells shall still*You who will bearmy body alongSpirit me into the sixDo not startleat its lack of weightHow lightI shall be releasedWhat we lovewill leave usor is itwe leavewhat we love,I forget—Today, bellyfull enoughto walk the blockafter all weektoo coldoutside to smile—I think of you, warmin your underground roomreading the bookof bone. It’s hard going—your body a deadlanguage—I’ve begunto feel, if nothope then whatcomes just after—or before—Let’s not call itregret, butthis weight,or weightlessness,or justplain waiting.The ice wantingagain water.The streams of two planesa cross fading.I was so busytelling you this I forgotto mention the sky—how in the duskits steely edgeshave just begun to rust.Ode to BoudinYou are the chewing gumof God. You are the reasonI know that skinis only that, holdsmore than it meets.The heart of you is somethingI don’t quite getbut don’t want to. Evena fool like me can seeyour brokenbeauty, the wayout in this world where mostthings disappear, driveninto ground, you are groundalready, & like riceyou rise. Drunken deacon,sausage’s half-brother,jambalaya’s baby mama,you bring me backto the beginning, to where things liveagain. Homemade saviour,you fed me the daymy father sat under flowerswhite as the gloves of pallbearerstossed on his bier.Soon, hands will lower himinto ground richerthan even you.For now, root of allremembrance, your thick chainsets me spinning, thinkingof how, like the small,perfect, possible, silent soulyou spill outlike music, my daddydead, or grief,or both—afterward his sistersmy aunts dancingin the yard to a car radiotuned to zydecobeneath the pecan trees.

From the Hardcover edition.

Table of Contents

Watching the Good Trains Go By 3

Sweet Blood

Cotillion

Sweet Blood 7

Cousins 9

Nineteen Seventy-Five 11

Prescription 13

Tuff Buddies 16

Bloodlines 18

The Halt-Cart 20

Primary 22

No Offense 24

Field Trip 25

Flood 27

Cortege

Aunties 29

Pallbearing

Labyrinth 32

Pallbearing 34

Victuals 36

Hurricane 37

Eulogy 38

See That My Grave Is Kept Clean 40

Insurance 41

Inheritance 43

Uncles (Blood) 45

Casting 47

Black Cat Blues

Close Call

Ode to My Scars 51

Ode to My Feet 52

Black Cat Blues 53

Childhood 54

Adolescence 55

Ode to My Sex 56

Short End Blues 57

Bachelorhood 58

Lost Dog Blues 59

Hang Dog Blues 61

To My Near-Mistress 63

Something Borrowed Blues 64

Slow Drag Blues 66

Farewell Tour

On My Mind 67

Flash Flood Blues 68

Lime Light Blues 69

Bling Bling Blues 71

Set List 73

Why I want my favorite band to break up 74

On Being Blind 75

Dirty Deal Blues 76

Ode to My Father's Feet 77

Up South Blues 78

Ode to the Midwest 79

Ode to the South 81

Uncles (Play) 83

Young & Son's Pawn & Gun

Ode to Pork 87

Ode to Chicken 88

Ode to Crawfish 89

Ode to the Buffalo 90

Ode to Wild Game 92

Ode to Homemade Wine 93

Ode to Okra 95

Ode to Kitchen Grease 97

Ode to Grits 98

Ode to Chitlins 100

Ode to Greens 103

Say When

Great West Casualty

Lullaby 107

Sunday Drive 108

Hard Headed Blues 110

Stay 112

Another Autumn Elegy 113

Burial 115

Toll 116

Death Letter 117

Daylight Savings 118

Say When 119

Quartet 121

Book Rate 122

New England Ode 123

Amen 125

Ode to the Hotel Near the Children's Hospital 126

Redemption 5[actual symbol not reproducible] 128

Ring of Fire129

May Day Blues 131

Not Today

Farm Team 133

I shall be released 135

I walk the line 137

I hope it rains at my funeral 140

I dream a highway 141

I don't burn 143

I am trying to break your heart 145

Cambridge Ode 147

Dunk Tank 148

Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere 150

Grievous Angel 152

I saw the light 153

On Being the Only Black Person at the Johnny Paycheck Concert 155

Last Ditch Blues 158

Deep Six Blues 160

Eulogy 161

Serenade 163

Young & Sons' Bar-B-Q Heaven

Ode to Catfish 167

Prayer for Black-Eyed Peas 168

Ode to Gumbo 170

Elegy for Maque Choux 174

Ode to Sweet Potato Pie 176

Ode to Barbeque Sauce 177

Ode to Watermelon 179

Ode to Turtle Soup 182

Song of Cracklin 186

Ode to Hot Sauce 187

Ode to Pepper Vinegar 189

Ode to Fig Preserves 191

Ode to Cushaw 193

Ode to Boudin 195

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 5
( 1 )

Rating Distribution

5 Star

(1)

4 Star

(0)

3 Star

(0)

2 Star

(0)

1 Star

(0)

Your Rating:

Review Guidelines
Add Recommendations
Your Name: Create a Pen Name or Leave Anonymously

Barnes & Noble.com Review Rules

Our reader reviews allow you to share your comments on titles you liked, or didn't, with others. By submitting an online review, you are representing to Barnes & Noble.com that all information contained in your review is original and accurate in all respects, and that the submission of such content by you and the posting of such content by Barnes & Noble.com does not and will not violate the rights of any third party. Please follow the rules below to help ensure that your review can be posted.

Reviews by Our Customers Under the Age of 13

We highly value and respect everyone's opinion concerning the titles we offer. However, we cannot allow persons under the age of 13 to have accounts at BN.com or to post customer reviews. Please see our Terms of Use for more details.

What to exclude from your review:

Please do not write about reviews, commentary, or information posted on the product page. If you see any errors in the information on the product page, please send us an email.

Reviews should not contain any of the following:

  • - HTML tags, profanity, obscenities, vulgarities, or comments that defame anyone
  • - Time-sensitive information such as tour dates, signings, lectures, etc.
  • - Single-word reviews. Other people will read your review to discover why you liked or didn't like the title. Be descriptive.
  • - Comments focusing on the author or that may ruin the ending for others
  • - Phone numbers, addresses, URLs
  • - Pricing and availability information or alternative ordering information
  • - Advertisements or commercial solicitation

Reminder:

  • - By submitting a review, you grant to Barnes & Noble.com and its sublicensees the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right and license to use the review in accordance with the Barnes & Noble.com Terms of Use.
  • - Barnes & Noble.com reserves the right not to post any review -- particularly those that do not follow the terms and conditions of these Rules. Barnes & Noble.com also reserves the right to remove any review at any time without notice.
  • - See Terms of Use for other conditions and disclaimers.
Search for Products You'd Like to Recommend

Recommend other products that relate to your review. Just search for them below and share!

Create a Pen Name

Your Pen Name is your unique identiy on BN.com. It will appear on the reviews you write and other website activities. Your Pen Name cannot be edited, changed or deleted once submitted.

Your Pen Name can be any combination of alphanumeric characters (plus - and _), and must be at least two characters long.

Continue Anonymously

We're sorry, but penname is already taken.

Please select one of the following:
Your Pen Name can be any combination of alphanumeric characters (plus - and _), and must be at least two characters long.

Continue Anonymously

penname is available!

By visiting the BN.com website or marking a purchase on BN.com, a User is deemed to have accepted the Terms of Use.

Continue Anonymously

Welcome, penname

You have successfully created your Pen Name. Start enjoying the benefits of the BN.com Community today.

Sort by: Showing 1 Customer Review

  • Anonymous

    Posted April 13, 2011

    No text was provided for this review.

Sort by: Showing 1 Customer Review
If you find inappropriate content, please report it to Barnes & Noble
Why is this product inappropriate?
Comments (optional)
500 character limit