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Stones

By Kevin Young

By Kevin Young

By Kevin Young

By Kevin Young

By Kevin Young

By Kevin Young

By Kevin Young
Read by Kevin Young

By Kevin Young
Read by Kevin Young

Best Seller

Category: Poetry

Category: Poetry

Category: Poetry

Category: Poetry | Audiobooks

Paperback $18.00

Apr 02, 2024 | ISBN 9781524711153

Hardcover $27.00

Sep 28, 2021 | ISBN 9781524732561

Ebook $14.99

Sep 28, 2021 | ISBN 9781524732578

Audiobook Download $7.50

Sep 28, 2021 | 52 Minutes

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    Stones by Kevin Young
    Hardcover $27.00
    Sep 28, 2021 | ISBN 9781524732561

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    • Paperback $18.00

      Apr 02, 2024 | ISBN 9781524711153

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    • Hardcover $27.00

      Sep 28, 2021 | ISBN 9781524732561

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    • Ebook

      Sep 28, 2021 | ISBN 9781524732578

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    About Stones

    A book of loss, looking back, and what binds us to life, by a towering poetic talent, called “one of the poetry stars of his generation.” —Los Angeles Times

    “We sleep long, / if not sound,” Kevin Young writes early on in this exquisite gathering of poems, “Till the end / we sing / into the wind.” In scenes and settings that circle family and the generations in the American South—one poem, “Kith,” exploring that strange bedfellow of “kin”—the speaker and his young son wander among the stones of their ancestors. “Like heat he seeks them, / my son, thirsting / to learn those / he don’t know / are his dead.”

    Whether it’s the fireflies of a Louisiana summer caught in a mason jar (doomed by their collection), or his grandmother, Mama Annie, who latches the screen door when someone steps out for just a moment, all that makes up our flickering precarious joy, all that we want to protect, is lifted into the light in this moving book. Stones becomes an ode to Young’s home places and his dear departed, and to what of them—of us—poetry can save.

    About Stones

    A book of loss, looking back, and what binds us to life, by a towering poetic talent, called “one of the poetry stars of his generation” (Los Angeles Times).

    “We sleep long, / if not sound,” Kevin Young writes early on in this exquisite gathering of poems, “Till the end/ we sing / into the wind.” In scenes and settings that circle family and the generations in the American South–one poem, “Kith,” exploring that strange bedfellow of “kin”–the speaker and his young son wander among the stones of their ancestors. “Like heat he seeks them, / my son, thirsting / to learn those / he don’t know / are his dead.”
     
    Whether it’s the fireflies of a Louisiana summer caught in a mason jar (doomed by their collection), or his grandmother, Mama Annie, who latches the screen door when someone steps out for just a moment, all that makes up our flickering precarious joy, all that we want to protect, is lifted into the light in this moving book. Stones becomes an ode to Young’s home places and his dear departed, and to what of them—of us—poetry can save.

    About Stones

    A book of loss, looking back, and what binds us to life, by a towering poetic talent, called “one of the poetry stars of his generation” (Los Angeles Times).

    “We sleep long, / if not sound,” Kevin Young writes early on in this exquisite gathering of poems, “Till the end/ we sing / into the wind.” In scenes and settings that circle family and the generations in the American South–one poem, “Kith,” exploring that strange bedfellow of “kin”–the speaker and his young son wander among the stones of their ancestors. “Like heat he seeks them, / my son, thirsting / to learn those / he don’t know / are his dead.”
     
    Whether it’s the fireflies of a Louisiana summer caught in a mason jar (doomed by their collection), or his grandmother, Mama Annie, who latches the screen door when someone steps out for just a moment, all that makes up our flickering precarious joy, all that we want to protect, is lifted into the light in this moving book. Stones becomes an ode to Young’s home places and his dear departed, and to what of them—of us—poetry can save.

    About Stones

    A book of loss, looking back, and what binds us to life, by a towering poetic talent, called “one of the poetry stars of his generation” (Los Angeles Times).

    “We sleep long, / if not sound,” Kevin Young writes early on in this exquisite gathering of poems, “Till the end/ we sing / into the wind.” In scenes and settings that circle family and the generations in the American South–one poem, “Kith,” exploring that strange bedfellow of “kin”–the speaker and his young son wander among the stones of their ancestors. “Like heat he seeks them, / my son, thirsting / to learn those / he don’t know / are his dead.”
     
    Whether it’s the fireflies of a Louisiana summer caught in a mason jar (doomed by their collection), or his grandmother, Mama Annie, who latches the screen door when someone steps out for just a moment, all that makes up our flickering precarious joy, all that we want to protect, is lifted into the light in this moving book. Stones becomes an ode to Young’s home places and his dear departed, and to what of them—of us—poetry can save.

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    Listen to a sample from Stones

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    Brown
    Blue Laws
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    See all books by Kevin Young

    Also by Kevin Young

    Emile and the Field
    Brown
    Blue Laws
    Book of Hours
    Ardency
    See all books by Kevin Young

    Also by Kevin Young

    Emile and the Field
    Brown
    Blue Laws
    Book of Hours
    Ardency
    See all books by Kevin Young

    About Kevin Young

    KEVIN YOUNG is the Andrew W. Mellon Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. He previously served as the director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Young is the author of fourteen… More about Kevin Young

    About Kevin Young

    KEVIN YOUNG is the Andrew W. Mellon Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. He previously served as the director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Young is the author of fourteen… More about Kevin Young

    About Kevin Young

    KEVIN YOUNG is the Andrew W. Mellon Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. He previously served as the director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Young is the author of fourteen… More about Kevin Young

    About Kevin Young

    KEVIN YOUNG is the Andrew W. Mellon Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. He previously served as the director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Young is the author of fourteen… More about Kevin Young

    Product Details

    Category: Poetry

    Paperback | $18.00
    Published by Knopf
    Apr 02, 2024 | 128 Pages | 6-1/4 x 9 | ISBN 9781524711153

    Category: Poetry

    Hardcover | $27.00
    Published by Knopf
    Sep 28, 2021 | 128 Pages | 6-1/4 x 9 | ISBN 9781524732561

    Category: Poetry

    Ebook | $14.99
    Published by Knopf
    Sep 28, 2021 | 128 Pages | ISBN 9781524732578

    Category: Poetry | Audiobooks

    Audiobook Download | $7.50
    Published by Random House Audio
    Sep 28, 2021 | 52 Minutes | ISBN 9780593554920
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    Praise

    “Young transforms memories, grief into beauty . . . We are lucky he allows us to travel with him into his past and glance over his shoulder.” —Jeremy Redmon, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

    “Distilled meditations on the deep resonance of family and home . . . Evocations of church services, rain, sun, and the music of the dark entwine nature and human longing . . . For Young, words are stones; poems are cairns.” —Donna Seaman, Booklist

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