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Everyday Mojo Songs of Earth: New and Selected Poems, 2001-2021
New and selected poems from the great Pulitzer Prize–winning poet
These songs run along dirt roads
& highways, crisscross lonely seas
& scale mountains, traverse skies
& underworlds of neon honkytonk,
Wherever blues dare to travel.
Everyday Mojo Songs of Earth brings together selected poems from the past twenty years of Yusef Komunyakaa’s work, as well as new poems from the Pulitzer Prize winner. Komunyakaa’s masterful, concise verse conjures arresting images of peace and war, the natural power of the earth and of love, his childhood in the American South and his service in Vietnam, the ugly violence of racism in America, and the meaning of power and morality.
The new poems in this collection add a new refrain to the jazz-inflected rhythms of one of our “most significant and individual voices” (David Wojahn, Poetry ). Komunyakaa writes of a young man fashioning a slingshot, workers who “honor the Earth by opening shine / inside the soil,” and the sounds of a saxophone filling a dim lounge in New Jersey. As April Bernard wrote in The New York Times Book Review , “He refuses to be trivial; and he even dares beauty.”
"Probably my favorite living poet. No one else taught me more about how important it was to think about how words make people feel. It's not enough for people to know something is true. They have to feel it's true." ―Ta-Nehisi Coates, The New York Times Style Magazine
These songs run along dirt roads
& highways, crisscross lonely seas
& scale mountains, traverse skies
& underworlds of neon honkytonk,
Wherever blues dare to travel.
Everyday Mojo Songs of Earth brings together selected poems from the past twenty years of Yusef Komunyakaa’s work, as well as new poems from the Pulitzer Prize winner. Komunyakaa’s masterful, concise verse conjures arresting images of peace and war, the natural power of the earth and of love, his childhood in the American South and his service in Vietnam, the ugly violence of racism in America, and the meaning of power and morality.
The new poems in this collection add a new refrain to the jazz-inflected rhythms of one of our “most significant and individual voices” (David Wojahn, Poetry ). Komunyakaa writes of a young man fashioning a slingshot, workers who “honor the Earth by opening shine / inside the soil,” and the sounds of a saxophone filling a dim lounge in New Jersey. As April Bernard wrote in The New York Times Book Review , “He refuses to be trivial; and he even dares beauty.”
"Probably my favorite living poet. No one else taught me more about how important it was to think about how words make people feel. It's not enough for people to know something is true. They have to feel it's true." ―Ta-Nehisi Coates, The New York Times Style Magazine
- GenresPoetry
288 pages, Hardcover
First published March 16, 2021
18 people are currently reading
306 people want to read
About the author
Yusef Komunyakaa
96 books205 followersYusef Komunyakaa (born April 29, 1947) is an American poet who teaches at New York University and is a member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. Komunyakaa is a recipient of the 1994 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, for Neon Vernacular and the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. He also received the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. Komunyakaa received the 2007 Louisiana Writer Award for his enduring contribution to the poetry world.
His subject matter ranges from the black general experience through rural Southern life before the Civil Rights time period and his experience as a soldier during the Vietnam War.
(from Wikipedia)
His subject matter ranges from the black general experience through rural Southern life before the Civil Rights time period and his experience as a soldier during the Vietnam War.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
July 8, 2021
“Everyday Mojo Songs of Earth” is a collection of new thoughts and reprinted classics by Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa. Every line paints a vivid and inspiring picture of the world around us. The geography, the people, and the thoughts are diverse and varied. They enable readers to perceive the world as someone else perceives it. The collection is life affirming and thought provoking.
I was given a review copy of” Everyday Mojo Songs of Earth” by Yusef Komunyakaa and Farrar, Straus and Giroux. I want to diversify my reading and “Everyday Mojo Songs of Earth” does that wonderfully. No matter what one reads every day, every reader should regularly pick up a book of poetry such as this for life-affirming regeneration.
I was given a review copy of” Everyday Mojo Songs of Earth” by Yusef Komunyakaa and Farrar, Straus and Giroux. I want to diversify my reading and “Everyday Mojo Songs of Earth” does that wonderfully. No matter what one reads every day, every reader should regularly pick up a book of poetry such as this for life-affirming regeneration.
September 4, 2021
To establish a point of reference for what follows, I think it's clear that, based on the span of his career, Yusef Komunyakaa is one of, and quite possibly the, most important living American poet. The previous collection of his earlier work, Neon Vernacular....well, I'm reaching for something that won't sound hyperbolic and I'm not going to bother chasing it down any farther. The collections Copacetic and Magic City sparkle on every pages and Dien Cai Dau is the definitive poetry collection to emerge from the American war in Vietnam.
So, having said that, I'll begin by saying that Everyday Mojo Songs doesn't hold up to YK's very high standards. There are deep images and bursts of lightning on many pages, but there are also stretches, especially when he's writing out of mythology and/or working in tight, often sonnet-like, forms, that blur into a sameness very rare in the early work. This isn't quite a collected later poems, but reading the selections volume by volume makes it clear that some volumes--especially The Chameleon Couch--find their centers better than others. There were more memorable poems in Talking Dirty to the Gods than I'd remembered from reading it on publication. And many of the new poems that open the collection would be at home in Neon Vernacular.
So very very glad to have spent the time revisiting this stage of YK's work, but if you're coming to him new, be aware that the most powerful work comes earlier.
Among the poems that resonated most deeply: The Soul's Soundtrack, The Devil's Workshop, Canticle, Ignis Fatuus, Blue Dementia. The next tier, a large one: The Candelight Lounge, Slave Among Blades of Grass, When Dusk Weighs Daybreak, The God of Land Mines, Curator of Kosninski's Mask, Euphony, Troubling the Water (for Frank O'Hara), How It Is, Turner's Great Tussle with Water, Sprung Rhythm of a Landscape, Fortress, Dead Reckoning II, Interrogation, and the excerpt from the Katrina poem Requiem.
So, having said that, I'll begin by saying that Everyday Mojo Songs doesn't hold up to YK's very high standards. There are deep images and bursts of lightning on many pages, but there are also stretches, especially when he's writing out of mythology and/or working in tight, often sonnet-like, forms, that blur into a sameness very rare in the early work. This isn't quite a collected later poems, but reading the selections volume by volume makes it clear that some volumes--especially The Chameleon Couch--find their centers better than others. There were more memorable poems in Talking Dirty to the Gods than I'd remembered from reading it on publication. And many of the new poems that open the collection would be at home in Neon Vernacular.
So very very glad to have spent the time revisiting this stage of YK's work, but if you're coming to him new, be aware that the most powerful work comes earlier.
Among the poems that resonated most deeply: The Soul's Soundtrack, The Devil's Workshop, Canticle, Ignis Fatuus, Blue Dementia. The next tier, a large one: The Candelight Lounge, Slave Among Blades of Grass, When Dusk Weighs Daybreak, The God of Land Mines, Curator of Kosninski's Mask, Euphony, Troubling the Water (for Frank O'Hara), How It Is, Turner's Great Tussle with Water, Sprung Rhythm of a Landscape, Fortress, Dead Reckoning II, Interrogation, and the excerpt from the Katrina poem Requiem.
July 20, 2021
Yusef Komunyakaa is an American poet who teaches at New York University. His books of poems include ‘Warhorses’ (FSG, 2008), ‘Taboo’ (FSG, 2004), and ‘Neon Vernacular: New and Selected Poems’, for which he received the 1994 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award and the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. He also received the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize.
“Yusef Komunyakaa’s poems reveal a unique understanding of the landscape of morality and justice in America; this collection brings together some of his most essential from the last two decades, a gift for both fans and newcomers alike. The result is a well-deserved testament to the power and weight of his work.” —Lit Hub
*
Dead Reckoning III
Yusef Komunyakaa
They work fingers to bone, & borrow
smudged paper, then make promises
to family, unmerciful gods, the unborn.
Some eat a favorite meal three times
in a row. Others partake only a pinch
of soil before boarding half-broken boats
& rubber rafts—half of the young women
big with life inside them, flesh & blood
for daydreams of the Arabian nights,
as makeshift charts & constellations
work their way through war & rumors
of war. The smugglers count their loot.
Hard winds rattle gongs over sea salt
till the rusty engines die, & their cries
moonstruck sirens, pirated schooners
adrift under a mute sky, rock to & fro,
& the fight goes out of the few alive.
Their relatives & friends, old lost folk
songs, mountains & valleys, all left
behind. Searchlights spot the dead
hugging the living. Draglines raise them.
Pray for those who’re braver than us.
The lucky ones stumble out of stupor,
tried by raging water in morning light,
enchanted by lingo of the albatross.
*
A huge thank you to @NetGalley and @fsgbooks for an ARC of ‘Everyday Mojo Songs of Earth’ by Yusef Komunyakaa.
“Yusef Komunyakaa’s poems reveal a unique understanding of the landscape of morality and justice in America; this collection brings together some of his most essential from the last two decades, a gift for both fans and newcomers alike. The result is a well-deserved testament to the power and weight of his work.” —Lit Hub
*
Dead Reckoning III
Yusef Komunyakaa
They work fingers to bone, & borrow
smudged paper, then make promises
to family, unmerciful gods, the unborn.
Some eat a favorite meal three times
in a row. Others partake only a pinch
of soil before boarding half-broken boats
& rubber rafts—half of the young women
big with life inside them, flesh & blood
for daydreams of the Arabian nights,
as makeshift charts & constellations
work their way through war & rumors
of war. The smugglers count their loot.
Hard winds rattle gongs over sea salt
till the rusty engines die, & their cries
moonstruck sirens, pirated schooners
adrift under a mute sky, rock to & fro,
& the fight goes out of the few alive.
Their relatives & friends, old lost folk
songs, mountains & valleys, all left
behind. Searchlights spot the dead
hugging the living. Draglines raise them.
Pray for those who’re braver than us.
The lucky ones stumble out of stupor,
tried by raging water in morning light,
enchanted by lingo of the albatross.
*
A huge thank you to @NetGalley and @fsgbooks for an ARC of ‘Everyday Mojo Songs of Earth’ by Yusef Komunyakaa.
December 11, 2021
What a strangely fascinating and fascinatingly strange collection from the late period of one of our foremost poets. I've not read Komunyakaa's most celebrated early collections, though the excerpts I have read were ferocious and uncompromising in ways I wasn't expecting. This collection generally isn't quite that, but rather it breathes in long sighs, all smoke and jazzy rhythm when it wants to be sultry, or coiled and controlled when it needs to be something else. We get some seriously horny poems fixated on mythological happenings, more than a smattering of historical poems set all across the ages and occasionally outside of time, and perhaps my favorite, musical verse about the music itself and the musicians behind the tunes. There's an enormous amount of material here, in terms of sheer poetic volume--we're talking 350ish pages--but the energy never flags, the light never dims.
I find it hard to recommend poetry to others as the art itself is so dependent on the reader's willingness to engage and meet the poet somewhere in the aether, and I could ramble on about expectations and subjectivity and linguistic preferences, the endless (meaningless) search for meaning, and all that, but I'll just say: if you're curious, give it a try. Sample a few poems in a bookstore; pull up an excerpt online. It's a collection worth exploring, and only you know if you're up for the adventure.
I find it hard to recommend poetry to others as the art itself is so dependent on the reader's willingness to engage and meet the poet somewhere in the aether, and I could ramble on about expectations and subjectivity and linguistic preferences, the endless (meaningless) search for meaning, and all that, but I'll just say: if you're curious, give it a try. Sample a few poems in a bookstore; pull up an excerpt online. It's a collection worth exploring, and only you know if you're up for the adventure.
May 4, 2022
A consummate master of the art and craft of poetry—certainly one of the greatest of the 21st Century—gifts the world with his newest collection of treasures.
Favorite Poems:
From MOJO (new poems)
“A Prayer for Workers”
From TALKING DIRTY TO THE GODS
“Lime”
“Ode to the Maggot”
“Bedazzled”
“Ukiyo-E”
“Remus & Romulus”
“Lust”
“Crow Lingo”
From TABOO
“Nude Study”
From WARHORSES
“Grenade”
From THE CHAMELEON COUCH
“A Translation of Silk” (OMG!)
“Black Figs”
“The Hedonist”
“How It Is”
“A Voice on the Answering Machine”
From THE EMPEROR OF WATER CLOCKS
“Turner’s Great Tussle with Water”
“Skulking Across Snow”
“Spring Rhythm of a Landscape”
“The Relic”
“The Gold Pistol”
“Torsion”
Favorite Poems:
From MOJO (new poems)
“A Prayer for Workers”
From TALKING DIRTY TO THE GODS
“Lime”
“Ode to the Maggot”
“Bedazzled”
“Ukiyo-E”
“Remus & Romulus”
“Lust”
“Crow Lingo”
From TABOO
“Nude Study”
From WARHORSES
“Grenade”
From THE CHAMELEON COUCH
“A Translation of Silk” (OMG!)
“Black Figs”
“The Hedonist”
“How It Is”
“A Voice on the Answering Machine”
From THE EMPEROR OF WATER CLOCKS
“Turner’s Great Tussle with Water”
“Skulking Across Snow”
“Spring Rhythm of a Landscape”
“The Relic”
“The Gold Pistol”
“Torsion”
May 1, 2021
Thank you to #NetGalley for the ebook ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Everyday Mojo Songs of Earth by Yusef Komunyakaa is a brilliant collection of poems that span twenty years. They have their own concise verse reflecting an earthy tone with a variety of lyrical flow. An enjoyable read, I highly recommend.
Everyday Mojo Songs of Earth by Yusef Komunyakaa is a brilliant collection of poems that span twenty years. They have their own concise verse reflecting an earthy tone with a variety of lyrical flow. An enjoyable read, I highly recommend.
March 12, 2022
This is my first time reading Komunyakka's work, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, and the craftsmanship is there, even if at times I didnt quite understand what the message was (though that it more likely on me as someone who is not well versed in poetry).
September 14, 2021
Excellent collection of poetry. So much goodness.
October 31, 2021
Especially the early ones.
These poems are the opposite of skimpy.
These poems are the opposite of skimpy.
July 13, 2025
A few skips but mostly solid
January 19, 2024
I was familiar with this poet from his evocative poem “Facing It” about his experience at the Viet Nam Veterans Memorial. This collection of his poems from 2001-2021i s a nice introduction to his work:
A translation of silk
One can shove his face against silk
& breathe in centuries of perfume
On the edge of a war-torn morning
Where men feel so hard for iron
They could taste it. Now, today,
A breeze disturbs a leafy pagoda
Printed on slow cloth. A creek
Begins to move. His brain trails
Lagging behind his fingers to learn
Suggestion is more than radiance
Shaped to the memory of hands,
That one of the smallest creatures
Knows how to be an impressive god.
A flounce of light is the only praise
It ever receives. I need to trust
This old way of teaching a man
To cry, & I want to believe in
What’s left of the mulberry leaves
Humans crave immortality, but oh,
Yes, to think worms wove this
As a way to stay alive in our world.
A translation of silk
One can shove his face against silk
& breathe in centuries of perfume
On the edge of a war-torn morning
Where men feel so hard for iron
They could taste it. Now, today,
A breeze disturbs a leafy pagoda
Printed on slow cloth. A creek
Begins to move. His brain trails
Lagging behind his fingers to learn
Suggestion is more than radiance
Shaped to the memory of hands,
That one of the smallest creatures
Knows how to be an impressive god.
A flounce of light is the only praise
It ever receives. I need to trust
This old way of teaching a man
To cry, & I want to believe in
What’s left of the mulberry leaves
Humans crave immortality, but oh,
Yes, to think worms wove this
As a way to stay alive in our world.
September 7, 2025
It's been said that reading and writing poetry is itself an act of resistance in this world, and this collection of Komunyakaa's poems makes that saying felt more, perhaps, than any other I've read. Wise, far-reaching and aware, and yet hopeful, the poems in this collection are grounded in the world and history we know, but built of enough spirituality and hope to affect readers with what is possible.
I've long been a fan of Komunyakaa, but this collection of new poems featuring poems from older collections is a forceful collection worth reading and sharing again and again. Absolutely recommended.
I've long been a fan of Komunyakaa, but this collection of new poems featuring poems from older collections is a forceful collection worth reading and sharing again and again. Absolutely recommended.
August 21, 2025
A collection of collections. Includes his poem "Envoy to Palestine" a homage to Mahmud Darwish "& now I know why I'd rather die a poet / than a warrior, tattoo & tomahawk." Includes the incomparable Torsion "He shipped back to the world only to remember blood / on the grass, men dancing on a lit string of bullets, / women & children wailing among the flame trees, / & he wished he hadn't been trained so damn well." Many of the poems reference other poets as well as images from Babylon and Native America. The words are like daubs of color placed on a canvas.
November 16, 2024
Yusef Komunyakaa is a talented poet who weaves in history, current events, and myths in a lyrical voice. I had previously read Neon Vernacular and loved it--this compilation was a great way to experience other poems.
June 10, 2023
Rock me, mercy
Read
July 19, 2023Gorgeous. New favorite
February 25, 2025
I love me some Yusef
February 18, 2024
Alhambra
Renato, a midday sun shines straight
down over us as we stroll up the hills
& down stony footpaths. I am holding
your left hand. This is only a few years
before my own stroke. Laren, you walk
behind us, photographing 12 o’clock
in the labyrinth. I hear slashing swords
& snorting of warhorses & can still feel
how they rode the air, strong back legs
thrusting out to clear a path of battle
around them. Moorish tactics sprung
down through blood, honor, to birth
habit & folk songs. An eight-pointed
star within an eight-pointed star. We
were under a bronze noontime, step
for step, as if to make one whole man.
I heard Langston translating Blood
Wedding, saying each earthy trope
truer than Lorca’s king of Harlem,
grapes & oranges called into their
ripening. Yes, friends, sacred taboos
lived inside a fiery glory & splendor.
It began before gunpowder, before
crescent insignias turned to crosses.
Was a run of bulls rain-polished black
motorcycles climbing adjacent hills?
Renato, a midday sun shines straight
down over us as we stroll up the hills
& down stony footpaths. I am holding
your left hand. This is only a few years
before my own stroke. Laren, you walk
behind us, photographing 12 o’clock
in the labyrinth. I hear slashing swords
& snorting of warhorses & can still feel
how they rode the air, strong back legs
thrusting out to clear a path of battle
around them. Moorish tactics sprung
down through blood, honor, to birth
habit & folk songs. An eight-pointed
star within an eight-pointed star. We
were under a bronze noontime, step
for step, as if to make one whole man.
I heard Langston translating Blood
Wedding, saying each earthy trope
truer than Lorca’s king of Harlem,
grapes & oranges called into their
ripening. Yes, friends, sacred taboos
lived inside a fiery glory & splendor.
It began before gunpowder, before
crescent insignias turned to crosses.
Was a run of bulls rain-polished black
motorcycles climbing adjacent hills?
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews