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Thieves of Paradise (Wesleyan Poetry Series) by Yusef Komunyakaa is a work of literary fiction available to read on EtoBox.

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### From Publishers Weekly In this first collection since his Pulitzer Prize-winning Neon Vernacular: New & Selected Poems (1994), Komunyakaa brings his lush, propulsive, myth-making language to a wide range of subjects: Charlie Parker and Ishi; the California Indian; the wildlife of Australia and South Africa. All are the title's "thieves," casing the joint and then snatching the bliss brought to us by the senses: "the lips,/ salt & honeycomb on the tongue.../ how everything begs/ blood into song & prayer/ inside an egg." Such pleasures are found and taken despite the lingering pain of Vietnam, where "the earth swings on a bellrope, limp as a body bag tied to a limb, and the moon overflows with blood," and the dark history of Western culture. "The Tally," a brilliant reckoning of 18th-century trade, reveals the taint even intellectual history bears: "They're counting nails,/ barrels of salt pork,/ sacks of tea and sugar.../ They're uncrating hymnals,/ lace, volumes of Hobbes,/ Rousseau & kegs of rum./ ...They're counting women/ & men." But Komunyakaa, a Princeton professor, also finds resonance in that culture, invoking Pascal, Goya and "The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam" as sources of

Who reads Thieves of Paradise (Wesleyan Poetry Series)?

Author

Yusef Komunyakaa

Publisher

University Press of New England, Wesleyan University Press

Published

1998

Language

EN

ISBN

9780819564221

Category

work of literary fiction

Subjects

Literary Fiction, Poetry, American Poetry

Rating

4.01 / 5 (105 ratings)

Updated

2026-03-14