The Lollipop Trollops and Other Poems

Book excerpt: Action. "Ideas of a certain kind," writes the author, "thoughts of a certain nap, can properly be expressed in no other way, not merely one-take ideas, rather substances requiring a specific form, the way brandy suitably calls for a snifter, absinthe a drip glass, and champagne an eight-ounce 'tulip.'" A variety of voices and visions reflect the alternations of mood, degrees of power, and a broad array of themes, a major one of which remains Theroux's insistent.