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Be Easy: New and Selected Poems
Literary Hub • “Most Anticipated Poetry of 2026”
“A poetics of magic and experience, of submission and resistance, of saying and seeing who and what we are in stereo.” ―Terrance Hayes
Revered for his “patient, clever, controlled, [and] visionary” (Hanif Abdurraqib) poems, Adrian Matejka has been a mainstay of contemporary American poetry for over two decades. Gathering hits from six extraordinary collections, Be Easy showcases his singular sonics and narrative vision in fresh, dynamic poems that lyrically complicate place, race, and identity.
Traversing the Midwest from Indianapolis to Chicago, new poems explore the twitchy unease of unintentional migration and economic instability as the country faces a future every bit as unsettling and circus-like as parking lot carnivals of the poet’s childhood. Selections from Mixology (2008)―“a post-soul tour de force” (Kevin Young)―reverberate with the rhythm of ’80s hip-hop, while “revelatory” (Gabrielle Calvocoressi) odes from Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist The Big Smoke (2013) reimagine the legacy of prizefighter Jack Johnson and transcendent poems from Map to the Stars (2017) brim with cosmic jazz.
Matejka’s smooth lyricism flows into a singular, indispensable collection of memories lost and found again. Tracing the continuum of a “rocket-powered” (Campbell McGrath) writer, Be Easy affirms Matejka as one of the most exciting voices of our time.
“A poetics of magic and experience, of submission and resistance, of saying and seeing who and what we are in stereo.” ―Terrance Hayes
Revered for his “patient, clever, controlled, [and] visionary” (Hanif Abdurraqib) poems, Adrian Matejka has been a mainstay of contemporary American poetry for over two decades. Gathering hits from six extraordinary collections, Be Easy showcases his singular sonics and narrative vision in fresh, dynamic poems that lyrically complicate place, race, and identity.
Traversing the Midwest from Indianapolis to Chicago, new poems explore the twitchy unease of unintentional migration and economic instability as the country faces a future every bit as unsettling and circus-like as parking lot carnivals of the poet’s childhood. Selections from Mixology (2008)―“a post-soul tour de force” (Kevin Young)―reverberate with the rhythm of ’80s hip-hop, while “revelatory” (Gabrielle Calvocoressi) odes from Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist The Big Smoke (2013) reimagine the legacy of prizefighter Jack Johnson and transcendent poems from Map to the Stars (2017) brim with cosmic jazz.
Matejka’s smooth lyricism flows into a singular, indispensable collection of memories lost and found again. Tracing the continuum of a “rocket-powered” (Campbell McGrath) writer, Be Easy affirms Matejka as one of the most exciting voices of our time.
- GenresPoetry
224 pages, Hardcover
Published May 5, 2026
About the author
Adrian Matejka
62 books70 followersAdrian Matejka was born in Nuremberg, Germany but grew up in California and Indiana. He is a graduate of Indiana University and the MFA program at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. His first collection of poems, The Devils Garden, won the 2002 Kinereth Gensler Award from Alice James Books. His second collection, Mixology, was a winner of the 2008 National Poetry Series and was published by Penguin Books in 2009. Mixology was subsequently nominated for an NAACP Image Award. He is a Cave Canem fellow and is the recipient of two Illinois Arts Council Literary Awards. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in American Poetry Review, The Best American Poetry 2010, Crab Orchard Review, Gulf Coast, Pleiades, and Prairie Schooner among other journals and anthologies. He teaches at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville where he serves as Poetry Editor for Souwester."
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 10, 2026
Sealey Challenge 2026: 9/31
I was somewhat familiar with Matejka's work before reading this as I have read his poems here and there and enjoyed his editorial career with Poetry magazine. However, this was my first full collection of his works.
Be Easy was an interesting look at the evolution of Matejka's poetry, showing both the similarities and differences in his style across the years. I noticed recurring words and themes throughout the collection, which has now made me think I could pick his poetry from a line-up! I thought it was also an interesting choice to arrange the sections beginning with his newest poems and then the next section starting with his earliest and working forward through time. It hinted to the kind of back and forth narrative he had through many of his works. The individual sections also felt carefully curated, and I could understand why they were brought together here. That said, there were definitely some hits and misses for me. Editorially, I appreciate how cohesive this was and how there was a genuine flow to the collection which can often be difficult to maintain with these larger new and selected collections.
My biggest takeaway from is was that Matejka writes about relatable ideas and has some beautiful language, but I rarely felt the poems hit me as emotionally deeply as I wanted them to. There is a lot of circling and returning to ideas throughout this collection, and sometimes I felt like I was waiting for the poems to finally land. Of the selected poems, I was most impressed with the section on The Big Smoke and hope to pick it up in the future. However, I'm not sure that I would prioritize the others.
As I was reading, I wrote down my thoughts on each section and kind of a section rating to help me better reflect on my thoughts. I have adapted them for here so that there's a more comprehensive understanding of my rating:
New Poems — 3/5
Beautiful language, but didn't stir enough emotion for me. I am struggling to find the guiding theme connecting these poems, which makes some of them feel out of place. This was a bit disjointed.
The Devil's Garden — 4/5
Pulled me in a bit more. The poems felt more personal, and I've found a few poems that really shined.
Mixology — 3.5/5
The more personal poems were definitely the strongest, although I have to admit that some of these went completely over my head. There were a few where I just really didn't get it!
The Big Smoke — 5/5
By far my favorite section! I didn't know this was inspired by a true story and am very intrigued by the full work!
Map to the Stars — 3.5/5
There were some interesting poems here, but I found the section more thematically disorganized. I especially didn't connect with the poems about Prince and feel like I missed something with the way they were scattered maybe strategically?
Standing on the Verge and Maggot Brain — 1/5
This one was an absolute NOPE! I truly do not understand what was going on in some of these poems. There are bits that connect to the other works thematically, but the language in the poems themselves lost me.
Somebody Else Sold the World — 3.5/5
I wasn't particularly interested in the love poems, but I enjoyed some of the others. The ending poems gripped me a little more.
To sum up my thoughts, I appreciated getting to sample so much of Matejka's work and understand a bit more about how his style has developed and evolved over time. I personally think that's kind of the point of this specific type of poetry selection as it's almost a sampler of sorts that leaves you with the decision to explore more. For me, I will definitely be picking up at least one of the full works in the future!
Thank you to the publisher, Liveright, for an e-ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions shared in this review are my own!
I was somewhat familiar with Matejka's work before reading this as I have read his poems here and there and enjoyed his editorial career with Poetry magazine. However, this was my first full collection of his works.
Be Easy was an interesting look at the evolution of Matejka's poetry, showing both the similarities and differences in his style across the years. I noticed recurring words and themes throughout the collection, which has now made me think I could pick his poetry from a line-up! I thought it was also an interesting choice to arrange the sections beginning with his newest poems and then the next section starting with his earliest and working forward through time. It hinted to the kind of back and forth narrative he had through many of his works. The individual sections also felt carefully curated, and I could understand why they were brought together here. That said, there were definitely some hits and misses for me. Editorially, I appreciate how cohesive this was and how there was a genuine flow to the collection which can often be difficult to maintain with these larger new and selected collections.
My biggest takeaway from is was that Matejka writes about relatable ideas and has some beautiful language, but I rarely felt the poems hit me as emotionally deeply as I wanted them to. There is a lot of circling and returning to ideas throughout this collection, and sometimes I felt like I was waiting for the poems to finally land. Of the selected poems, I was most impressed with the section on The Big Smoke and hope to pick it up in the future. However, I'm not sure that I would prioritize the others.
As I was reading, I wrote down my thoughts on each section and kind of a section rating to help me better reflect on my thoughts. I have adapted them for here so that there's a more comprehensive understanding of my rating:
New Poems — 3/5
Beautiful language, but didn't stir enough emotion for me. I am struggling to find the guiding theme connecting these poems, which makes some of them feel out of place. This was a bit disjointed.
The Devil's Garden — 4/5
Pulled me in a bit more. The poems felt more personal, and I've found a few poems that really shined.
Mixology — 3.5/5
The more personal poems were definitely the strongest, although I have to admit that some of these went completely over my head. There were a few where I just really didn't get it!
The Big Smoke — 5/5
By far my favorite section! I didn't know this was inspired by a true story and am very intrigued by the full work!
Map to the Stars — 3.5/5
There were some interesting poems here, but I found the section more thematically disorganized. I especially didn't connect with the poems about Prince and feel like I missed something with the way they were scattered maybe strategically?
Standing on the Verge and Maggot Brain — 1/5
This one was an absolute NOPE! I truly do not understand what was going on in some of these poems. There are bits that connect to the other works thematically, but the language in the poems themselves lost me.
Somebody Else Sold the World — 3.5/5
I wasn't particularly interested in the love poems, but I enjoyed some of the others. The ending poems gripped me a little more.
To sum up my thoughts, I appreciated getting to sample so much of Matejka's work and understand a bit more about how his style has developed and evolved over time. I personally think that's kind of the point of this specific type of poetry selection as it's almost a sampler of sorts that leaves you with the decision to explore more. For me, I will definitely be picking up at least one of the full works in the future!
Thank you to the publisher, Liveright, for an e-ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions shared in this review are my own!
June 17, 2026
Reading Adrian Matejka's Be Easy: New and Selected Poems reminded me, among many things, of visiting the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in the early 2000s and seeing Gerhard Richter's retrospective. In many ways, poetry, like visual art, is heightened when viewed across the span of an artist's career. While the form, style, and language may change, you begin to see the throughline that grounds the work in a singular vision.
Matejka remains one of the finest contemporary poets writing today. His work explores the claustrophobia and violence of race in America, the absence of a father, and the search for identity. Yet these wounds are often redeemed through the expansive love Matejka shows for music—both for the musicians themselves and for the lyrical, descriptive language that animates his poems. It comes as no surprise, then, that one of the most memorable acts of vengeance in his work is his mother ruining his father's prized record collection by placing a drop of glue on each album.
Throughout the violence—both self-inflicted and collectively imposed—that shapes the reality of race and Blackness in America, Matejka's poetic vision seems to suggest a central truth: that what allows us to remain unbroken by the brutal and bending structural violence of everyday living in this American project is the cosmic magic of music, language, beauty, and art.
Matejka remains one of the finest contemporary poets writing today. His work explores the claustrophobia and violence of race in America, the absence of a father, and the search for identity. Yet these wounds are often redeemed through the expansive love Matejka shows for music—both for the musicians themselves and for the lyrical, descriptive language that animates his poems. It comes as no surprise, then, that one of the most memorable acts of vengeance in his work is his mother ruining his father's prized record collection by placing a drop of glue on each album.
Throughout the violence—both self-inflicted and collectively imposed—that shapes the reality of race and Blackness in America, Matejka's poetic vision seems to suggest a central truth: that what allows us to remain unbroken by the brutal and bending structural violence of everyday living in this American project is the cosmic magic of music, language, beauty, and art.
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August 4, 2026First read: August 3, 2026, Monday
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews