Poetry

There is a Florida beyond the stars.
It is the same state I find waking here,
alone with my aloneness in the dark,
all things now possible because my own.

And one day, when, I will cross
Great Water, walk and reach
that final rise

To honor the National Gallery of Art’s exhibition The Art of Romare Bearden, the first comprehensive Bearden retrospective in more than a decade, VQR asked National Book Award-finalist Kevin Young to respond to ten of Bearden’s...

He wrapped them carefully and tidily
in precious green silk.

& the initial premise?

I am holding a picture of my sister’s unborn child, its face
     seemingly reflective.

Some days there is nothing
of the blues
     I can use
so I put down
my pen & walk instead

Where will you go,
little vagabond,
anonymous familiar,