Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Kevin Young?s "Aubade" is a brief yet powerful exploration of desire, intimacy, and the bittersweet tension between connection and departure. Using the aubade—a poetic form traditionally focused on lovers parting at dawn—Young infuses the poem with modern sensuality, playful humor, and a deep yearning for presence and union. The poem’s minimalist structure and vivid imagery create a sense of immediacy and raw emotional vulnerability.

The opening line, "There is little else // I love," immediately conveys the speaker’s intensity of feeling. The enjambment between the first and second lines reflects both hesitation and urgency, as if the speaker struggles to articulate their profound affection. The focus on the "small / of yr back" introduces a tactile and intimate image, emphasizing the physicality of the relationship. The use of "yr," an abbreviated and informal spelling of "your," adds a conversational and contemporary tone, drawing the reader closer to the speaker’s emotional immediacy.

The imagery grows more vivid and sensuous with "your thick / bottom // lip stuck out." The detail of the "thick bottom lip" and its "stuck out" position evokes a pout or moue, a gesture that combines vulnerability with defiance. The speaker’s reaction—"Your moue makes // me wheeze & want"—underscores their deep physical and emotional attraction. The verbs "wheeze" and "want" encapsulate a visceral response, blending humor and ardor. The choice of "wheeze" adds a playful self-awareness, highlighting the speaker’s almost exaggerated, lighthearted longing.

The poem then transitions into a metaphor that both expands and deepens its sensual tone: "I am like / that big Bessie, // a red cow?s plea -- / milk me, baby." This image of the speaker as "big Bessie," a cow pleading to be milked, is at once humorous and deeply evocative. It transforms desire into a need so primal and urgent that it mirrors the biological necessity of a cow producing milk. The phrase "milk me, baby" blends playfulness with an unabashed expression of dependency and longing, capturing the speaker’s vulnerability and their yearning for intimacy.

As the poem moves toward its conclusion, it confronts the tension inherent in an aubade: the possibility of parting. The question, "Will you stay? / Or rise, as sun // Does, & make us day?" shifts the focus from the speaker’s desires to the actions of the beloved. The comparison to the sun rising invokes both the inevitability of departure and its transformative power. To "make us day" suggests that the beloved’s departure brings light and movement to the world, yet it also signifies a separation that contrasts with the closeness shared in the night. The use of "&" instead of "and" maintains the poem’s informal, conversational tone, while the final question underscores the uncertainty that defines the moment.

The poem’s compact structure and enjambment reflect the fleeting nature of the morning encounter. Each line builds on the previous one, creating a rhythm that mirrors the tension between staying and leaving, intimacy and separation. The minimal punctuation and informal diction contribute to the poem’s immediacy, as if the speaker’s thoughts and feelings are spilling out in real time.

"Aubade" is a striking meditation on the complexities of love and desire, blending humor, sensuality, and vulnerability. Through its vivid imagery and poignant questioning, Kevin Young captures the ephemeral beauty of intimate moments while acknowledging the inevitability of change and separation. The poem invites readers to linger in the delicate balance between presence and absence, offering a timeless reflection on the human need for connection.

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