Syllabus of Errors: Poems (Princeton Series of Contemporary Poets, 107)

. . . we are fixed to perpetrate the species― I meant perpetuate― as if our duty were coupled with our terror. As if beauty itself were but a syllabus of errors. Troy Jollimore's first collection of poems won the National Book Critics Circle Award, was hailed by the New York Times as "a snappy, entertaining book," and led the San Francisco Chronicle to call him "a new and exciting voice in American poetry." And his critically acclaimed second collection expanded his reputation for poems that often take a playful approach to philosophical issues. While the poems in Syllabus of Errors share recognizable concerns with those of Jollimore’s first two books, readers will also find a voice that has grown more urgent, more vulnerable, and more sensitive to both the inevitability of tragedy and the possibility of renewal. Poems such as "Ache and Echo," "The Black-Capped Chickadees of Martha’s Vineyard," and "When You Lift the Avocado to Your Mouth" explore loss, regret, and the nature of beauty, while the culminating long poem, "Vertigo," is an elegy for a lost friend as well as a fantasia on death, repetition, and transcendence (not to mention the poet’s favorite Hitchcock film). Ingeniously organized into sections that act as reflections on six quotations about birdsong, these poems are themselves an answer to the question the poet asks in "On Birdsong": "What would we say to the cardinal or jay, / given wings that could mimic their velocities?" A new collection of poetry from the winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award... we are fixed to perpetrate the species—I meant perpetuate—as if our dutywere coupled with our terror. As if beautyitself were but a syllabus of errors.Troy Jollimore's first collection of poems won the National Book Critics Circle Award, was hailed by the New York Times as'a snappy, entertaining book,'and led the San Francisco Chronicle to call him'a new and exciting voice in American poetry.'And his critically acclaimed second collection expanded his reputation for poems that often take a playful approach to philosophical issues. While the poems in Syllabus of Errors share recognizable concerns with those of Jollimore's first two books, readers will also find a voice that has grown more urgent, more vulnerable, and more sensitive to both the inevitability of tragedy and the possibility of renewal.Poems such as'Ache and Echo,''The Black-Capped Chickadees of Martha's Vineyard,'and'When You Lift the Avocado to Your Mouth'explore loss, regret, and the nature of beauty, while the culminating long poem,'Vertigo,'is an elegy for a lost friend as well as a fantasia on death, repetition, and transcendence (not to mention the poet's favorite Hitchcock film). Ingeniously organized into sections that act as reflections on six quotations about birdsong, these poems are themselves an answer to the question the poet asks in'On Birdsong':'What would we say to the cardinal or jay, / given wings that could mimic their velocities?' Troy Jollimore's first collection of poems won the National Book Critics Circle Award, was hailed by the New York Times as "a snappy, entertaining book," and led the San Francisco Chronicle to call him "a new and exciting voice in American poetry." And his critically acclaimed second collection expanded his reputation for poems that often take a playful approach to philosophical issues. While the poems in Syllabus of Errors share recognizable concerns with those of Jollimore's first two books, readers will also find a voice that has grown more urgent, more vulnerable, and more sensitive to both the inevitability of tragedy and the possibilities of renewal. Poems such as "Ache and Echo," "The Black-Capped Chikadees of Martha's Vineyard," and "When you Life the Avocado to your Mouth" explore loss, regret, and the nature of beauty, while the culminating long poem, "Vertigo," is an elegy for a lost friend as well as a fantasia of death, repetition, and transcendence (not to mention the poet's favorite Hitchcock film). Ingeniously organized into sections that act as reflections on six quotations about birdsong, these poems are themselves an answer to the question the poet asks in "On Birdsong": "What would we say to the cardinal or jay, / given wings that could mimic their velocities?"--Jacket Cover 1 Title 4 Copyright 5 Dedication 6 Contents 8 I ON BIRDSONG 10 On Birdsong 12 Inventory 13 Ache and Echo 14 On the Origins of Things 20 Critique of Judgment 21 Homer 22 Oriole 24 Past Imperfect 25 II ON BEAUTY 30 On Beauty 32 Syllabus of Errors 33 Cutting Room 35 My Book 38 Going Viral 39 Bone 41 Possession 44 Death by Landscape 45 Second Wind 46 The Black-Capped Chickadees of Martha’s Vineyard 47 III ON BLINDNESS 50 On Blindness 52 The Apples 54 Charlie Brown 56 Some Men 58 The Proselytizers 60 Universal 61 Photograph 63 Polaroid Model 1000 OneStep, Circa 1978 64 Ars Poetica 66 The New Joys 68 IV WHEN YOU LIFT THE AVOCADO TO YOUR MOUTH 70 Tamara 72 The Task 73 More Broken than Yours 75 Fireworks 77 Lament 78 The Fourteen-Hour Orgasm 80 Not Enough 81 Poem for the Abandoned Titan Missile Silos Just North of Chico, California 85 Autumn Day (after Rilke) 86 The Small Rain 87 When You Lift the Avocado to Your Mouth 88 V VERTIGO 90 Vertigo 92 VI CONCLUDING UNSCIENTIFIC POSTSCRIPT 102 [maybe I just need time to grieve] 104 Notes and Acknowledgments 106 __. . . we are fixed to perpetrate the species―__ __were coupled with our terror. As if beauty__ Troy Jollimore's first collection of poems won the National Book Critics Circle Award, was hailed by the __New York Times__ as "a snappy, entertaining book," and led the __San Francisco Chronicle__ to call him "a new and exciting voice in American poetry." And his critically acclaimed second collection expanded his reputation for poems that often take a playful approach to philosophical issues. While the poems in __Syllabus of Errors__ share recognizable concerns with those of Jollimore’s first two books, readers will also find a voice that has grown more urgent, more vulnerable, and more sensitive to both the inevitability of tragedy and the possibility of renewal.