Jody Azzouni - The Lust for Blueprints

Poets are expected to have, or imply, a philosophy in their writing. But when a philosopher threatens to write poetry, most readers head for the hills. This makes the debut book of philosopher-poet Jody Azzouni all the more astonishing. It dazzles and delights. Wry, sardonic, myth-infused, and precise as a scalpel blade, this 1999 collection revels in dark imagery and playful erudition. All the poems here were published in literary magazines, but some also appeared as postcard-sized "guerilla-publishing" pieces that found their way into New York City bookstores, sometimes even planted like wasp larvae inside books of other authors' work. To our delight, a cache of these books has turned up intact, surviving our many moves, as well as several floods and mildew plagues. This volume contains two digital art illustrations by Catherine Weaver, and concludes with Azzouni's challenging 20-page essay, "Numbered Paragraphs: An Essay on Esthetics." This 2019 ebook edition is completely reset matching the original fonts of the limited edition 1999 printing.