Any Psalm You Want, by Khary Jackson

Khary Jackson wants you to hear his poems.

I think I would like to meet Khary Jackson.  I feel almost as it I've met him in his new collection of poetry, Any Psalm You Want.  Jackson, a Twin Cities poet originally from Detroit, shows his hip-hop sensibilities and his civil rights roots, but his reach is much broader and deeper than those elements alone.  None of his poems are in verse*, but they have a rhythm, a rhythm of life, a rhythm of the streets.  He's done well in the poetry slam circuit; I could almost hear him reciting at times.  Watch some of his videos on You Tube and you'll get a taste of his passion.

That passion does come through in print, in a different way.  Jackson takes the reader to Detroit, where an abandoned house reflects on life and longs for what has been.  To L.A., where a black man and his son can't make sense of the Rodney King verdict and the riots that followed.  To Italy, where Antonio Stradivari lovingly creates violins as tribute to his beloved.  Jackson writes of love, loss, family, and justice, of slavery, civil rights, and the streets.  Most of the selections left me wondering, "What is the back story? Who are these people?  What am I missing?" not in a way that leaves the reader frustrated, but in a way that leaves the reader coming back to read the poems again.  I have a feeling that is just what Jackson wanted.

*Note: I am no poetry expert.  I don't read a lot of poetry, to be honest.  But it sort of bothers me when a "poem" isn't arranged in verses like a poem by Blake, Yeats, Shelly, Browning, etc.  Rhyming is nice, too, but not totally necessary.  I know, I am stuck in another century.  So are these poems?  Is this poetry?  I suppose so.

Meet Khary Jackson: reciting "Her Name"
His publisher, Write Bloody.
His web site, LayItBare.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic copy!

Was this review helpful to you?  If so, please give my review at Amazon.com a helpful vote!