Finalists for the 1992-1993 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes : POETRY

NEON VERNACULAR New and Selected Poems by Yusef Komunyakaa (University Press of New England/Wesleyan University Press). The landscape of Komunyakaa’s life is reflected in this autobiographical collection, chronologically arranged, that is as well a diorama of post-World War II American culture. Out of the author’s Southern black childhood overlaid with Vietnam atrocities little can be conjured but the raw intensity of “steamy serenity” and “3 a.m. sorrow” on which to build a life--accompanied by the truth of soulful jazz refrains.

The Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalists and winners are selected in each category by an independent panel of judges. Winners will be announced in the Book Review issue of October 31.