I think poems return us to that place of mud and dirt and earth, sun and rain. Kevin Young More Quotes by Kevin Young More Quotes From Kevin Young One of the most troubling things about the term 'fake news' is that it has become a force field against accusations you don't like. Kevin Young thingsyounewsfake A DJ draws a connection between two seemingly disparate things and says, 'Look, they are alike. You can dance to them.' Kevin Young djlookyoudance The hoax is the very absence of truth, which usually means art is absent, too - hoaxes regularly substitute claims of reality for imagination, facts for form, acting as if artifice is the antithesis of art. Kevin Young imaginationtruthrealityart Harper Lee's novel 'To Kill a Mockingbird' became iconic almost immediately after appearing in 1960: best-seller status; the Pulitzer Prize the next year; a classic movie soon after, with Gregory Peck in an Academy Award-winning role. Kevin Young statusyearclassicnext A poem can provide testimony. A poem can provide solace. It can provide a connection. Kevin Young poemconnectionsolacetestimony Blackface remains exoticist and offensive as a practice, not just because of its long tradition of being used to mock black selfhood, sexuality, and speech but because of its assertion that black people are merely white people sullied by dark skin. Kevin Young traditionblacklongpeople There is, of course, no larger mass hysteria in American history than the epidemic of racism. Kevin Young americanhysteriaracismhistory While claiming advocacy, what hoaxers really exhibit is self-interest. Often, this is because there is only the self to support their false claims; any revelations merely provide further opportunities for details and forgery. Kevin Young opportunitiesdetailssupportself Can you explore real issues as a fake character? Yes - it's called acting. Or fiction. But acting is not a method of engaging with the actual world, just as pretending to know what a character might eat does not a novel make - much less make that make-believe real. Kevin Young youfakecharacterworld Rereading 'To Kill a Mockingbird,' I was struck by what I had forgotten of the book: in a manner of pages, we encounter shame, history, ruin, conflicting stories, and wounds badly healed; in short, the South. Kevin Young shortshamebookhistory The mid-eighteen-thirties marked the rise of eugenics and racialism, with phrenology emerging as just one of the many pseudosciences that sought to enact, reinforce, and restrict racial difference. Kevin Young racialrisedifferencejust Writers need their totems, their altars. Mine, I feel, share the same randomness and utility of those belonging to painters I know, who are relentlessly visual and even poetic. Kevin Young needfeelknowbelonging I rather think that archives exist to keep things safe - but not secret. Kevin Young thingsthinksafesecret I think I go with the Duke Ellington view on music. He said, 'There's two kinds of music - there's good music, and then there's the other kind.' Kevin Young viewgoodthinkmusic There's something about the kind of time travel that a poem can provide. It can take you to somewhere else - a culture far from you, a language far from you, but suddenly you're there. You're that person, seeing with that person's eyes. I think that's really tremendous. Even things like cinema or more traditional history can't quite do that. Kevin Young eyesyoutimehistory I try to have a lot of influences, which is to say not to have one specific influence too strongly; that can end up badly. Kevin Young sayendtryinfluence It's hard to describe one's own alchemy that makes one into a writer, but I definitely think American language is so interesting, and specifically Southern language and black Southern language; it's hard to separate Southern language from black language. Kevin Young ownthinkblacklanguage I didn't technically grow up in the South, but both my parents were from there. Kevin Young grow-upgrowparentsup To me, poetry is spoken - not exclusively, but there's a mix of languages in it. That's what I liked about 'For the Confederate Dead;' it has many different tones to it. Kevin Young deadmedifferentpoetry I didn't know any poets growing up in Kansas. Kevin Young upknowgrowinggrowing-up
