Troy Jollimore

Troy Jollimore, a philosophy prof at Chico State, won a National Book Critics Circle prize with his first poetry collection; his second, At Lake Scugog, is easily that good. In lush language draped over familiar forms, Jollimore explores the nature of the self, but don’t let that frighten you off. He’s got a great sense of humor and an equal fondness for a pun and a laugh, as in “Tom Thomson in Tune”: “no man’s an iPod.” Take that, John Donne! Yes, there are a new handful of Tom Thomson poems, as well as a lovely “Ars Poetica,” in which Jollimore describes the relationship of poet to poem as that of lovers—and not always in a good way. It’s the ultimate introspection and upending of worldviews, as in “To His Lover”: “Heaven can go to hell, my sweet. Let man / and woman join what God has put asunder.” (In SN&R: http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/no-mans-an-ipod/content?oid=1970970)… (mere)