Human Nature by Albert DeGenova

Kelsay Books, paperback, $20.00

Native Chicagoan, award-winning poet, publisher of the literary arts journal After Hours, and blues saxophonist Albert DeGenova takes a deep look at youth in Human Nature. Youth of self, youth of country, youth of redemption. The mistakes we make without knowing we’ve done so until we look at them later through a wiser lens.

Or perhaps the poems are mantras we repeat to mend the past. They all look back. Marching us through to crisp, stop-action moments, deeply personal—rites of passage in some cases. Some emanate a longing to relive them.

This time travel of sorts takes the reader back to jazz clubs, the fresh steps of Vietnam vets returning to a new-normal life—reminding us of those who did not return—race and racism; systemic inequities; soul-sucking work; and a dab of Chicago history. “Bombs will fall again, empires will fall again / and tourists, stepping over the rubble, / will gather broken bricks for souvenirs / again.”

Unlike some long, meandering jazz tunes, these short snippets are on point, but DeGenova’s expert jazz skills are apparent. His poems’ structure and style—seemingly spontaneous and unrehearsed, lack forced language. Sometimes, he skips in artful disguise to another fable within a poem, like a nod to those who have played before him.

Both jazz and poetry tend to push boundaries, experiment with different styles, and break away from traditional norms. This collection does just that:

“I stand bare-chested / the rain against my face / black iron fire escape under my shoeless feet / rancorous fists pulling at wet hair / taunting the lightning— / I dare you / nothing / touches me / anymore.”

Human Nature is a masterful composition of poetic riffs, a rhythmic journey that encourages readers to embrace the failures and successes of their own existence long after DeGenova’s final note.