Book of Hours: Poems by Kevin Young

Book of Hours: Poems Reviews

• 
  Maxwell

  Young delves into the sorrow and grief of losing a loved one, in this case his father, while simultaneously exploring the joy of new life in the birth of a child. It's a harrowing and touching collection that vacillates between these emotions, and many more, in exacted, yet accessible poems.
• 
  Roger DeBlanck

  In the poem “Solace,” Kevin Young describes how “Desire’s murmur // is not fire / but water waded / out into, or washed // over us, undertow / we feed & are / fed from— // the absolution / of skin.” And in the poem “Wintering,” he explains how “Mourning, I’ve learned, is just / a moment, many, // grief the long betrothal / beyond. Grief what / we wed.” These excerpts from Book of Hours provide only a small glimpse of why Kevin Young is a master of the compact verse and a master at making profound observations with very few words.
  
  In the volume’s first two sections titled “(Domesday Book)” and “(The Book of Forgetting)” the poems address Young’s grief and his haunting remembrances over the loss of his father. Although sorrowful and full of mourning, these pieces express more deeply the honor and reverence he had for his father. In the section that follows titled “(Confirmation)” Young delivers a series of poems that reflect upon his pending fatherhood and the birth of his son. This section gushes with overwhelming emotion. In each of these first three sections, the poems are exceptional. They are pitch-perfect in tone, rhythm, and word choice. The ideas in each poem flow seamlessly into one another, and the themes powerfully reinforce and expand from poem to poem.
  
  The final two sections of the book are more abstract and rambling. They lack the specificity and poignancy of the earlier poems. Yet one of the best pieces, “Ruth,” appears late in the volume. It reiterates feelings of sorrow and how to overcome them. Young discusses how “Every pore mourns. / Not the brain, nor / the chest where bereavement // nests, but the body, whole— / how it burns.” Later in that same poem, he observes how “Even healing // hurts. Our bodies / leave us little / choice—scars // that way are ruthless.” Overall, Kevin Young’s collection of poems establishes its power in the first half of the book, and that is enough to make this a sensational work from one of America’s preeminent poets.
• 
  Becky

  This was a beautiful collection of poems. I would recommend this to anyone that enjoys a quick yet thought-provoking read.
  
  “You see, I want a lot.
  Perhaps I want everything
  the darkness that comes with every infinite fall
  and the shivering blaze of every step up.
  So many live on and want nothing
  And are raised to the rank of prince
  By the slippery ease of their light judgments
  But what you love to see are faces
  that do work and feel thirst.
  You love most of all those who need you
  as they need a crowbar or a hoe.
  You have not grown old, and it is not too late
  To dive into your increasing depths
  where life calmly gives out its own secret.”
• 
  Kerfe

  What good
  
  are wishes, if they aren't
  used up?
  
  A book about dying and also living. With death as a constant companion.
  
  Young strips down and exposes the experience of being in this world, of continually losing what is most precious and necessary, while also honoring and appreciating what remains. He celebrates births and mourns not-births, but mostly he confronts death face to face, circling round, following behind.
  
  ...He kept everything
  
  but alive. I have come to know
  sorrow's
  
  not noun
  but verb, something
  
  that, unlike living,
  by doing right
  
  you do less of. The sun
  is too bright.
  
  Young turns inward and reaches out. He remembers and imagines. He releases and remains integral to the time and place of his living.
  
  The final, most moving, meditation, "Book of Hours, is both summary and anticipation, mirroring this journey of inescapable conclusion with accuracy but not despair.
  
  It's death there
  is no cure for--
  
  life the long
  disease.
  
  If we're lucky.
  
  ...
  
  The storm lifts
  up the leaves.
  
  Why not sing.
  
  
  As Ella Fitzgerald said, "The only thing better than singing is more singing."
  
  
• 
  Maggie

  The first and last sections of this collection were lovely meditations of grief and loss. Those by themselves would have earned five stars. After awhile, though, I ran into the same problem I have with most of Young's previous collections: long books of short-lined poems start to feel very one-note to me after awhile. Young's books are like box sets instead of albums. More isn't always more to me.
• 
  Ken

  The strongest section in the book is the first, a series of elegies and laments over the loss of a father. Style of poems is similar throughout, with a few exceptions: leggy poems with 3-5 words per line, is all. It makes them read quickly, though in a book this size, the technique can become repetitive at times.
• 
  Eric

  Fantastic. I will come back to this for a long time.
• 
  Dave Schaafsma

  What I like about this collection is that it talks about grief over time and not just in that crashing first days and weeks experience. This is a collection that covers ten years and not just ten hours, as the title might suggest. It begins with the sudden death, ten years ago, of his father, that's the heart of it, the foundation of the book, the backdrop of everything, and moves through his wife's miscarriage and the birth of his son. Through all this we get the sense of his father. I think the first and last sections are great and would have been enough, really. There's also a few very fine poems recognized by The Best American Poetry series… and much of it is published and in great places, but I just thought it was too much, too long, could have been a tighter collection to make it stronger...
• 
  Grace

  Maybe I should read more poetry, because some of these book collections are amazing. It really changes the poetry-reading experience. (I usually read single poems, or a couple, in literary journals, or chapbooks.)
  
  This is a book that's serious about grief, and it captures the progression from shock and numb grief to awareness to recovery to whatever different but okay stated you end up in, and it captures that almost perfectly.
  
  And then there are poems about babies and I think, "oh great, here we go"... But then it turns out those poems are beautiful and insightful and thought-provoking, too.
  
  This is a book to buy, because I'll want to come back to these poems. Whether as individuals or as the whole collection.
• 
  Mike

  one of my very favorite poets. kevin young is a master of spare observations and deep emotions, and this book, which chronicles the death of his father and the birth of his son is a masterpiece.
• 
  Matt

  
  My review for The Arts Fuse:
  http://artsfuse.org/104500/fuse-poetr...
• 
  Kaitlyn

  I was just kind of underwhelmed with this book. I can appreciate Young's craft with poetry. That was admirable, but I found it hard to connect to anything.
• 
  Zack Clemmons

  So refreshing after the play-acted nihilism of Michael Robbins, to read a poet working, and listening, and working to put to words the keen things of life--death, birth, sex, love, resurrection.
  
  Young's tight lines and spilling stanzas work the way Christian Wiman's do--cutting language to the quick, making us think and re-think our familiar and comforting phrases for the faceted truths (and doubts) deep down them.
  
  A collection dwelling in sorrow's rooms, yearning for resurrection, finding its types in the small details with which life swells.
• 
  Emma Galloway Stephens

  This book builds a universe and gives you a row boat in which to explore it. Kevin Young carves grief and joy out of words in plain speech lyricism. An excellent read for those who "don't get" poetry.
• 
  Abby

  Stunning! I will return to this collection again and again and again and again.
• 
  Becca MacGillvray

  3.75
• 
  Tatiana

  I could’ve read an entire book on his grief about his father alone. It struck such a chord in me, I wish that section was the entire book. Not that I wish for him to continue to ache and lament but that I could see myself in someone else’s words for just that bit longer.
• 
  Kaleigh

  5/5 ⭐️
• 
  Alarie

  This beautiful, inspiring, warm, engaging, and (hallelujah!) accessible collection of poems captures what it means to be human. Young opens his heart, shares his own vulnerability, and uses his musical language to pull us in. We see ourselves in these pages. In “Bereavement,” he lets us witness his grief through his father’s dogs: “Their grief is colossal/& forgetful./Each day they wake/seeking his voice,/their names./By dusk they seem/to unremember everything…” He balances the poems of death and sorrow with joy in poems about his wife’s pregnancy and son’s birth. He concludes with the section titled “Book of Hours.” Here the poems become a bit more abstract and lyrical. To me they seem almost like psalms, a soothing way to end this emotional book.
  
• 
  Debs

  I picked this up on a whim last Sunday, and this testament to grief & remembrance turned out to be exactly what I needed to be reading over the heartbreak and turbulence of this week. It's not only a fiercely contained and tension-wrought collection, but also beautifully written. Kevin Young is an extremely skilled poet, and his magic-wanded wording never feels forced or show-offy. I feel like each collection is a class in assonance, cadence, and rhythm, and the fluidity of his lines create palpable moods and emotions. At times a difficult (emotionally-speaking) read, but very necessary to me right now in this moment.
• 
  Liz

  Sometimes you find just the right book at just the right time. Kevin Young’s poems of grief and loss touched me deeply, stirring my memories of losses past, and resonating with the anguish I am dealing with today. It’s a walk through grief, not just in the freshness of the immediate pain of loss, but looking back over time, remembering the moments, large and small, that comfort and torture at the same time. Lovely and utterly genuine, these simple poems will stay with me. And I will be seeking out and reading all of the author’s work.
• 
  Jeffrey (Akiva) Savett

  One of the most moving and consistently stellar collections of poetry I've ever read. There are literally too many gems in this book to cite, but believe me, there is a line, a phrase, a word choice, and stanza on every page that will take the top of your head off. This is the first I've read of Young and I look forward to more. Of special note, see "Crowning," the best poem I've ever read about witnessing a birth, especially as written by a male poet.
• 
  Karen Douglass

  These spare poems pack a big emotional punch. It takes courage to face the grief of losing a beloved parent and to share the intimate details of a much wanted child's birth. Young handles both the tone and the language well. My first read took only a little over an hour and now I'll go back and savor it on the second pass.
• 
  Steven Felicelli

  . . . the hours
  are ours to make
  the most of--
  
  or to learn,
  with practice, to relent.
  
  
  
  birth, death, love, etc. - poems beautifully put - nothing extravagant or extraordinary about this volume, it's just one of the best I've read in the last couple of decades