Ardency by Kevin Young

Ardency by Kevin Young 

From the title page: “Ardency, a Chronicle of the Amistad Rebels, Being an Epic Account of the Capture of the Spanish Schooner Amistad, by the Africans on Board; Their Voyage and Capture Near Long Island New York; With Phrenological Studies of Several of the Surviving Africans” 

Ardency is a four-part collection of 57 poems in several forms throughout with a short Notes section at the end.  

The collection is in four parts. According to the preface, “Buzzard is in the voice of James Covey, twenty-year-old African interpreter for the imprisoned Mendi people; Correspondance consists of the Mendi’s letters and speeches from jail (and subsequent freedom); the third section, Witness, is a libretto spoken/sung by Cinque, leader of the rebellion.” 

There is an additional section, as well, entitled After Word; or, The Mission & Its Fate. Before each section, a scan of an apropos newspaper clipping appears.  

Buzzard consists of 21 poems each containing three septets each, save for one, Blackmarket, which contains two septets and one octave. The section opens with Genesis 8:6-7, begins with a poem called Exodus and ends on a poem entitled Revelations. The poems are in the voice of James Covey, the interpreter for the Mendi people. The poems are heavy in stark, brutal imagery and wordplay, pulling no punches when dropping hard facts of the lives of the Mendi people onboard the Amistad and the all-but-promised experience of all slaves in America at the time in a casual, but never flippant way.  

Correspondance consists of 14 poems that vary between forms, most often a block form imitating the Mendi’s letters and a slim form for the Mendi speeches which puts one in mind of the structure of hymnals. The section opens with Job 41:1-8 and the thread of religion (and an associated awe and resentment) continue throughout not only in the forms but in the content of the poems.  

Witness, a Libretto contains 14 poems, all of which are titled and modeled after modes of classical musical construction, whether that be operatic or biblical and are further divided into seven sections with related poetry following. The section Witness opens with Job 3: 26. 

The final section, After Word, is a series of testimonials from various sources in connection to the whole affair with the Amistad and closes the collection.  

Find more from this artist here: https://kevinyoungpoetry.com/