Mark Bibbins finds damaged glamour at the fringes of respectability in this exceptional debut collection

I was born
with capable eyes,

a moveable heart
and time to spare.--from "Euphorium"

In his restless and unpredictable debut, Mark Bibbins offers a virtuosic poetry. Lovers struggle to connect; groupies, hustlers, and corporate drones covet better--or at least different--lives; locations fluctuate, without forewarning, from bars to beaches to city streets. With beguiling tonal and formal variety, these poems question the ordinary and unwitting acceptance of the status quo as they hover where "error arranges itself." As indebted to Stereolab and Siouxsie Sioux as to any poetic lineage, Sky Lounge introduces an imagination committed to making irreverence, sensuality, and elegy into a provocative new music.