Neon Vernacular Quotes

“I am this space my body believes in.”
― Yusef Komunyakaa, Neon Vernacular: New and Selected Poems

“Foolhearted mindreader,
help us see how
the heart begs,
how fangs of opprobrium
possess our eyes.”
― Yusef Komunyakaa, Neon Vernacular: New and Selected Poems

“My doors enter from the sidestreet,
my windows painted basement black,
my mouth kisses the blues harp,
my heart hides like notes
locked in a cedar chest.”
― Yusef Komunyakaa, Neon Vernacular: New and Selected Poems

“Inside my skin,
loving you, I am this space
my body believes in.

— Yuself Komunyakaa, from “Unnatural State of the Unicorn,” Neon Vernacular: New and Selected Poems. (Wesleyan University Press 1993)”
― Yusef Komunyakaa, Neon Vernacular: New and Selected Poems

“Say something about real love.
Yes, true love—more than
parted lips, than parted legs
in sorrow’s darkroom of potash
& blues. Let the brain stumble
from its hidingplace, from its cell block,
to the edge of oblivion
to come to itself, sharp-tongued
as a boar’s grin in summer moss

—Yusef Komunyakaa, from “Safe Subjects,”Neon Venacular: New and Selected Poems (Wesleyan University Press, 1993)”
― Yusef Komunyakaa, Neon Vernacular: New and Selected Poems

“The Way the Cards Fall "

Why did you stay away
so long? I’ve buried another
husband, since I last saw you
holding to the horizon.
I hear where you now live
it snows year-round.
The pear & apple trees
have even missed you–
dead branches scattered
about like war. Come closer,
my eyes have grown night-dim.
Across the field white boxes
of honeybees silent as dirt,
silent as your missent
postcards. Evening
sunlight’s faded my hair,
the old stable’s slouched
to the ground. I dug a hole
for that calico, Cyclops,
two years ago. Now
milkweed & blackberries
are keepers of the cornfield.
That’s how the cards fall;
& Anna, that beautiful girl
you once loved enough
to die over & over again for,
now lives in New Orleans
on both sides
of Bourbon Street.”
― Yusef Komunyakaa, Neon Vernacular: New and Selected Poems