THE CORTLAND REVIEW

YUSEF KOMUNYAKAA - MILLENNIUM 2000 FEATURE

2000 FEATURE
	Yusef Komunyakaa
		An interview with Yusef Komunyakaa by David Lehman and a reading of some of his finest poems, all in RealAudio.
	Chantelle Bentley
		Listening for the Whispers Above the Screams: The necessity of poetry in the age of technology.
	Daniela Gioseffi
		From the Serious to the Silly: A review of three new anthologies of women's writing from the Stone Age to the Present Age.
	Renee Bandazian
		Visions of Wheaties Boxes Danced in My Head: A report from the Poetry Olympics.
	John Kinsella
		Next Door to the Racing Pigeon Clubhouse: The next chapter in John Kinsella's continuing autobiographical series.

Yusef Komunyakaa

Yusef Komunyakaa (Photo by Renee) Yusef Komunyakaa has published eleven books of poems including: Neon Vernacular: New and Selected Poems 1977-1989, the winner of the 1994 Pulitzer Prize and Thieves of Paradise, a finalist for the 1999 National Book Critics Circle Award. Forthcoming are Blue Notes: Essays Interviews & Commentaries, Talking Dirty to the Gods, and Pleasure Dome: New and Collected Poems, 1975-1999. He has written Slip Knot, a libretto in collaboration with Composer T.J. Anderson and commissioned by Northwestern University. Besides the CD recording Love Notes from the Madhouse, future jazz-related releases feature Komunyakaa's poem about Charlie Parker's life on Testimony and lyrics on Thirteen Kinds of Desire sung by Pamela Knowles. He is a professor in the Council of Humanities and Creative Writing Program at Princeton University, and a recently elected Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.

Yusef Komunyakaa - Interview and Reading

Yusef Komunyakaa was interviewed by David Lehman at New School University on November 10, 1999, following his poetry reading.

Yusef Komunyakaa (Photo by Renee)

The poetry reading/interview is separated into several parts. Click on any link below to begin listening from that moment onward:

#	TITLE	TIME
1	Introduction by David Lehman	4:06
2	"An Old Low-down Blues"	2:21
3	"Ode to a Drum"²	1:30
4	"The Deck"²	2:02
5	"Camouflaging the Chimera"¹	2:04
6	"Ode to the Maggot"⁴	:55
7	"The Scapegoat"⁴	1:02
8	"Venus's-flytraps"³	1:41
9	"My Father's Love Letters"³	1:33
10	"Slam, Dunk, & Hook"	1:24
11	"Blue Light Lounge Sutra..."¹	1:18
12	"Thanks"¹	1:26
13	"We Never Know"¹	:47
14	"Rhythm Method"	1:54
15	"Jasmine"³	1:58
16	"Facing It"¹	1:30
17	"Anodyne"²	1:51
18	"Yellowjackets"³	:52
19	"No-good Blues"	2:15
20	Interview by David Lehman	25:42
	Interview by David Lehman

¹ Neon Vernacular: New and Selected Poems, 1977-1989
² Thieves of Paradise
³ Pleasure Dome: New and Collected Poems, 1975-1999
⁴ Talking Dirty to the Gods

Special thanks to: David Lehman, Yusef Komunyakaa, Robert Polito, Zoe Anglesey, and everyone at New School University for participating in the broadcast of this event.

� 2002 The Cortland Review