The way wasps want
your house
to be their house,
so the dead
try & make
your home
their own—they move in
promising to stay
only a week, luggage
stuffed with old
clothes & tinted photographs.
Building their houses
of paper, buzzing, they draw
the curtains, desilver
the mirrors till years
later, look about
& it's your life
the dead are living.
Wake & rub
the night
from your eyes—the paper
fetched wet
from the yard, the paid
death notices
& ads for living longer
unread. Mine
not the wings
for such a flight—
Each day, later than you like,
the lonely postman
force-feeds words
into the hungry mouth
of the mailbox—
where this small
dunning bird has begun
its brittle,
briefest nest.
“Yellowjacket” explores the eerie way the dead make themselves at home in our lives.
- "Yellowjacket” uses very short lines, slowing the reader down and emphasizing the rhythm of the poem. Try reading it aloud with short pauses at each line break, then try again to read it as if it were prose, ignoring the breaks but using your own natural pauses. What effect does each reading have, and which do you prefer?
- Notice how the words “house” and “home” are both used in the first couple stanzas. Consider the distinction: why do you think “house” is used for the wasps, and “home” is used for the dead?
- Death is a very common subject in poems. How does “Yellowjacket” address death in a way that is surprising or unusual?
- The poem is in a second-person point of view (“you”). What is the effect of this perspective? It might help to imagine what it would be like in first person, for example “The way wasps want my house/to be their house” to help consider the difference.
Writing activity: The main extended metaphor/simile here is that the dead are like wasps. Write a poem where the dead are compared to a different animal, the more surprising the better. See how far you can take the metaphor!
Useful Links
Interview with Kevin Young about his collection Night Watch where “Yellowjacket” is from: https://therumpus.net/2025/10/02/let-there-be-night-a-conversation-with-kevin-young-about-night-watch/
Explanation of extended metaphor: https://www.writebetterpoems.com/articles/what-is-extended-metaphor
Kevin Young, “Yellowjacket,” from Night Watch. Alfred A. Knopf, 2025. Griffin Poetry Prize 2026 Winner. Used with permission from The Griffin Trust For Excellence In Poetry.