Jalousie by Allyson Paty

Jalousie

by Allyson Paty

$19.95

The “I-centered,” first person, yet experimental poems in Jalousie explore the ways in which expression of the deeply personal experience is both dictated to and altered by rigid societal expectations. The speaker of these highly personal poems can’t help but view language as a historical artifact, the DNA of past worlds, as these poems delve into the complexities of sorting out one’s individual identity amid broader cultural contexts. Paty’s poems attempt to connect the personal, private, intimate persona with elements that are always external—external not only to this poet but to every person.

These poems seek to capture fleeting moments of personal connection despite the impossibility of language, the societal dictates of gender roles, the pressures of making a living, the inexorable march of time, and the bewildering strangeness of architectural spaces. At the heart of this collection is “Premise,” an extensive poem that weaves in detours through the history of New York City, themes of discard, references to Bruegel’s “Wedding Dance,” and discussions on representation and memory. The book also contains three full-color illustrations which augment the poet’s themes and concerns.

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  • Description

  • The “I-centered,” first person, yet experimental poems in Jalousie explore the ways in which expression of the deeply personal experience is both dictated to and altered by rigid societal expectations. The speaker of these highly personal poems can’t help but view language as a historical artifact, the DNA of past worlds, as these poems delve into the complexities of sorting out one’s individual identity amid broader cultural contexts. Paty’s poems attempt to connect the personal, private, intimate persona with elements that are always external—external not only to this poet but to every person.

    These poems seek to capture fleeting moments of personal connection despite the impossibility of language, the societal dictates of gender roles, the pressures of making a living, the inexorable march of time, and the bewildering strangeness of architectural spaces. At the heart of this collection is “Premise,” an extensive poem that weaves in detours through the history of New York City, themes of discard, references to Bruegel’s “Wedding Dance,” and discussions on representation and memory. The book also contains three full-color illustrations which augment the poet’s themes and concerns.

    WINNER OF THE BERKSHIRE PRIZE FOR POETRY

    “The title of this stunning collection refers to a window treatment which has rows of angled slats, like blinds or shutters, and Allyson Paty’s disarming lyric exemplifies a deliciously sharp perspective which at times ranges from being seen literally through partially-opened slats, the world at a slant, to confronting the mediations of how we tender our communications, representations of self, labor, and love. These are poems reminiscent of the cutting lines of Elaine Kahn and Elisa Gabbert, but these poems are uniquely their own.”

    —from the Judge’s Citation by Diana Khoi Nguyen

    Format: Paperback
    Published: April 2025
    ISBN: 978-1-961209-21-3

  • About The Author

  • Allyson Paty is a poet, essayist, and teacher living in New York City. Paty is the author of the chapbooks Five O’Clock on the Shore, Score Poems, and The Further Away. She is co-founding editor of Singing Saw Press, works at NYU Gallatin, and photographs her garbage @trash_days on Instagram.

  • Critics' Reviews

  • “To read these poems is to feel transfigured in the splinters of a strobe light: Phone scrolling, the dishes, street protest, work functions — ‘skin L E A K S / the world comes I N’ — we find ourselves in a strange choreography, one it turns out we’ve been performing all along. Science tells us the present lasts but three seconds. ‘That means that every three seconds, we produce ourselves again as strangers’ (Jenny Erpenbeck). Paty is the poet of this ongoingness as acute disequilibrium.”

    —Lisa Hsiao Chen, author of Activities of Daily Living

    “In her new book of poems, Jalousie, Allyson Paty athletically crashes the present moment back through the diagonals of history. Through luminous perceptual collaging, the sounds in her dreams, her dailiness, and the wrath of the gods combine in a poetic logic that is both irrefutable and moving.”

    —Annie-B Parson, Big Dance Theater

  • Excerpts

  • No information is available.

  • Weight

  • 0.41 lbs

  • Dimensions

  • 6 × 9 in

  • Awards

  • Winner of the 2023 Berkshire Prize for a First or Second Book of Poetry
The “I-centered,” first person, yet experimental poems in Jalousie explore the ways in which expression of the deeply personal experience is both dictated to and altered by rigid societal expectations. The speaker of these highly personal poems can’t help but view language as a historical artifact, the DNA of past worlds, as these poems delve into the complexities of sorting out one’s individual identity amid broader cultural contexts. Paty’s poems attempt to connect the personal, private, intimate persona with elements that are always external—external not only to this poet but to every person.

These poems seek to capture fleeting moments of personal connection despite the impossibility of language, the societal dictates of gender roles, the pressures of making a living, the inexorable march of time, and the bewildering strangeness of architectural spaces. At the heart of this collection is “Premise,” an extensive poem that weaves in detours through the history of New York City, themes of discard, references to Bruegel’s “Wedding Dance,” and discussions on representation and memory. The book also contains three full-color illustrations which augment the poet’s themes and concerns.

WINNER OF THE BERKSHIRE PRIZE FOR POETRY

“The title of this stunning collection refers to a window treatment which has rows of angled slats, like blinds or shutters, and Allyson Paty’s disarming lyric exemplifies a deliciously sharp perspective which at times ranges from being seen literally through partially-opened slats, the world at a slant, to confronting the mediations of how we tender our communications, representations of self, labor, and love. These are poems reminiscent of the cutting lines of Elaine Kahn and Elisa Gabbert, but these poems are uniquely their own.”

—from the Judge’s Citation by Diana Khoi Nguyen

Format: Paperback
Published: April 2025
ISBN: 978-1-961209-21-3

Allyson Paty is a poet, essayist, and teacher living in New York City. Paty is the author of the chapbooks Five O’Clock on the Shore, Score Poems, and The Further Away. She is co-founding editor of Singing Saw Press, works at NYU Gallatin, and photographs her garbage @trash_days on Instagram.

“To read these poems is to feel transfigured in the splinters of a strobe light: Phone scrolling, the dishes, street protest, work functions — ‘skin L E A K S / the world comes I N’ — we find ourselves in a strange choreography, one it turns out we’ve been performing all along. Science tells us the present lasts but three seconds. ‘That means that every three seconds, we produce ourselves again as strangers’ (Jenny Erpenbeck). Paty is the poet of this ongoingness as acute disequilibrium.”

—Lisa Hsiao Chen, author of Activities of Daily Living

“In her new book of poems, Jalousie, Allyson Paty athletically crashes the present moment back through the diagonals of history. Through luminous perceptual collaging, the sounds in her dreams, her dailiness, and the wrath of the gods combine in a poetic logic that is both irrefutable and moving.”

—Annie-B Parson, Big Dance Theater
No information is available.
0.41 lbs
6 × 9 in
Winner of the 2023 Berkshire Prize for a First or Second Book of Poetry