Be Easy

Setting 21 new works alongside poems published between 2003 and 2021, this exceptional collection from Matejka (Somebody Else Sold the World) puts his agile, musical voice, vivid imagery, and talent for cultural critique on full display. The section of new poems opens with “Ordinary as It Gets,” an arresting ode to Midwestern Americana set in Cincinnati’s Kings Island amusement park: “there’s the music of the mind & then/ there’s the music of the maw—tonsils out,/ screams abounding up The Beast’s/ wooden-slatted hill, its rocking set list/ curated for the popcorn-getters & thrill/ seekers above & below.” The nostalgia continues in “Seeing Stars Poetica,” in which the speaker recalls with wry and evocative detail having his photo taken in a K Mart portrait studio: “Nothing’s easy at the ledge// of the women’s section. Each flash costs more/ than we can afford, backdropped by the idea// of Indiana: cartoon pumpkins & paint-flaked/ barns.” Selections from Matejka’s revelatory 2013 collection The Big Smoke, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award, explore the life of legendary Black boxer Jack Johnson (1878–1946): “When we rise up// the whole Negro race rises up/ with us. When we get to the top,// it’s just us. No use for Negroes// then, not even ourselves.” The result is a fantastic entry point for readers unfamiliar with Matejka’s work and an essential volume for his fans. (Mar.)