Be Easy

From award–winning poet Adrian Matejka, a vibrant and indispensable collection of new and selected poetry.

A finalist for the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, Adrian Matejka has been a mainstay of contemporary American poetry for over two decades. Collecting hits from six extraordinary collections, Be Easy showcases Matejka’s singular sonics and narrative vision in fresh, dynamic poems that lyrically complicate place, race, and identity in contemporary America. New poems explore the twitchy unease of unintentional migration and economic instability as the country faces a future every bit as unsettling and circuslike as the parking lot carnivals in the Midwest. Selections from Mixology (2008)—“a post–soul tour de force” (Kevin Young)—shapeshift before our eyes; while “revelatory” (Gabrielle Calvocoressi) odes from The Big Smoke (2013) reimagine the legacy of prizefighter Jack Johnson; and transcendent poems from Map to the Stars (2017) brim with cosmic jazz. From a “rocket-powered” writer (Campbell McGrath), Be Easy affirms Adrian Matejka as one of the most revelatory and exciting voices of our times.