Poetry Blog #5

TWIST of "Cousins," by Kevin Young

Tone: The tone of the poem starts off as very loving, and perhaps nostalgic. He discusses his cousins, and his childhood surrounded by all the members of his big family. There is a darker shift at Line 24, when the speaker begins talking about Keith, a cousin who hanged himself. After this he adopts a more reflective yet passionate tone, discussing the impact his cousins have had on him and the meaning of cousinship.

Word Choice: Young's constant repetition of the phrase "This is for" throughout the poem emphasizes not only the extent of all the speaker's cousins, but also the dedicative nature of the poem. It's not about them, it's for them, as he repeatedly emphasizes. He also goes out of his way to explain sound devices, explaining how the word "cuz" is a long, buzzing, comforting sound. This compares to the sometimes-irritating but ultimately-comforting nature of his large number of cousins.

Imagery: Young uses a lot of imagery to describe and humanize the cousins he lists. Big Red is "the color of Louisiana dust, the rusty dirt we blew up" and Keith hung himself "like the paintings he masterpieced." This takes what could be a simple description of a cousin and shares the speaker's experiences with the reader, as opposed to saying Big Red is "rust-colored" or that Keith was "an artist." It makes all of the cousins easier to relate to.

Style: The poem is full of rambling enjambment and run-on sentences. This seems to be to give the reader a sense of the chaos accompanying such a large family, especially as he rambles on about various cousins in the beginning, sentences running over line after line at random points. Towards the end of the poem, these long sentences become increasingly packed with interruptions and caesuras, giving a more passionate and earnest feel to his thoughts.

Theme: The major theme in "Cousins" is the effect of family. Young claims that, while one's extended family can be hectic and oversized, they should still be valued above all else because  your family is the closest and most ancient bond that we have.


While it may not be to the extent of Kevin Young, I feel a connection with this poem because I have a very large extended family. If I count right, I have nine aunts and uncles and nine first cousins. While all of them live very far away, I still very much enjoy the periodic company of all my cousins. You can really feel the loving chaos that Young describes during the occasional Langley family Christmas or Thanksgiving dinners (that's the side where most of those relatives are concentrated).