Be Easy: New & Selected Poems
Liveright, March 2026
From award–winning poet Adrian Matejka, a vibrant and indispensable collection of new and selected poetry.
A finalist for the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, Adrian Matejka has been a mainstay of contemporary American poetry for over two decades. Collecting hits from six extraordinary collections, Be Easy showcases Matejka’s singular sonics and narrative vision in fresh, dynamic poems that lyrically complicate place, race, and identity in contemporary America. New poems explore the twitchy unease of unintentional migration and economic instability as the country faces a future every bit as unsettling and circuslike as the parking lot carnivals in the Midwest. Selections from Mixology (2008)—“a post–soul tour de force” (Kevin Young)—shapeshift before our eyes; while “revelatory” (Gabrielle Calvocoressi) odes from The Big Smoke (2013) reimagine the legacy of prizefighter Jack Johnson; and transcendent poems from Map to the Stars (2017) brim with cosmic jazz. From a “rocket-powered” writer (Campbell McGrath), Be Easy affirms Adrian Matejka as one of the most revelatory and exciting voices of our times.
Praise for Be Easy
“There are so many kinds of music in Adrian Matejka’s head. He’s spot on about ‘the music of the mind & / . . . the music of the maw.’ There’s also the music of time, coursing through Be Easy as memory, history, and hope. And the chorus of color, mapping out a portrait of who in the world we are and what it is we seek. In the vivid intoxication of each poem’s heartbeat and mouthfeel is something that sounds to me like marrow music, flowing toward what stirs at the core of us.” —Tracy K. Smith, author of Such Color: New and Selected Poems
“Adrian Matejka’s marvelous Be Easy is a live, evolving statement of poetics. From debut to today, he’s tuned in to the codes and frequencies of someone born Black when the world was sold. Whatever the form, Matejka’s peerless work aims to revitalize our fossilized language, turning it back into a body of muscle, memory, music. This new and selected is all that.” —Terrance Hayes, author of American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin
“These old and new poems recognize and speak to each other the way ‘game recognize game.’ This is not the highlight reel of a retired Indiana baller with only ‘remember when’s’ to serve up. Although the oldies are goodies, this pure shooter with both handles and range is not only still in his prime, his lyrical ankle-breakers demand that Be Easy be picked first off the shelf. This instant classic, this collection of new and selected poems is an all-star team that proves Adrian Matejka still ‘got game.’” —Frank X Walker, author of Load In Nine Times