ABOUT THIS BOOK

The world is made of seductions. In Quincy Troupe's Seduction, the "I" becomes the "Eye," serving as metaphor and witness in a narrative compilation from a master of poetic music. Elegies and dramatic odes look at the seduction of all things loved or hated, especially the man made of color. How did the killings of Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, and Trayvon Martin seduce the public's eye and catch the fire of racism? How did Aretha Franklin seduce us with voice and twang? How does the art of Romare Bearden or Jack Whitten still tell our truths, fantasies, and oppressions?

time is a bald eagle, a killer soaring high in the blue, / music to men
dodging bullets in speeding cars, / knew death, hoped it'd never come . . .

In this collection we are seduced by Troupe's opus. This is the poet's art laid bare. He is our "Eye." Visions of the transatlantic slave trade, portraits of American violence, pop culture, and historical voices are the lyrical relics in Troupe's masterful verse. One of American literature's most important rhythmical artists, Troupe has created a chronicle reaching through history for the collective "I/Eye" that is all of us.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

QUINCY TROUPE is the author of nine volumes of poetry, three children's books, and the author, coauthor, or editor of six nonfiction works. He collaborated with Miles Davis on his autobiography and with Chris Gardner on The Pursuit of Happyness, which spent more than forty weeks on the New York Times best-seller list and was made into a major motion picture starring Will Smith. Troupe has also written a screenplay for Miles and Me, the memoir of his friendship with Miles Davis. Poetry collections include Transcircularities: New and Selected Poems, winner of the 2003 Milt Kessler Poetry Award and selected by Publishers Weekly as one of the ten best books of poetry in 2002; The Architecture of Language, winner of the 2007 Paterson Award for Sustained Literary Achievement; and Errançities, published 2012.

REVIEWS

"Seduction chronicles in verse, major figures of our time indelibly noted by the poet. He's the voice of his culture from Harlem's artistic world to the "wired" world of today, in vast epic passages that seem to say, if a man is what he does he'd better do it with majesty. Troupe writes beyond forgiveness or reconciliation: he's done with discussing submission or surrender in our lives, he goes right to what emboldens." —Midwest Book Review

"In Quincy Troupe’s new collection Seduction, we see the evolution of a man who has been steeped in and devoted to the cultural productions of black artistic life for over five decades. These poems carry with them a sincerity and clarity always imbued in landscape and focused on the questions that shape an Africanist humanity. The poems found here are intrepid and made nuanced by a vision long fixated on liberation. Troupe’s poems are also a welcome reminder that the Black Arts Movement wasn’t simply a moment in time, but an unfolding that remains ever-present."—Matthew Shenoda, author of Tahrir Suite and coeditor of Bearden's Odyssey

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Part 1. Prelude

Excerpts from Ghost Voices: Sections Two and Three

Part 2

Ghost Voices Whispering from the Past
Catching Shadows
Soon to be Ghost Voices Plunging through the Sky
Ghost Waves
The Drug of Endless War
Song of Some Blood-Thirsty Men
Memory: That Place Once Bright & Clear
Mercy
Strange Incidents
Mixed Metaphors via the Media
Some Thoughts about Connecting in Today’s Wired World
Strange Harlem Encounter: A Portrait
High Noon Shadow
A Portrait of Some Con Men Eye have Run into
Two New Seven-Elevens in Rhymes
Question
A Dirge for Michael Brown, Tamir Rice & Trayvon Martin
The World Sometime in the Future: What the Bus Driver Told Me

Part 3

Questions about Race & Color
Changes
Fragment: for Aretha Franklin
Jazz Improvisation as Blueprint for Living
Eye Want to Go to Bucaramanga, Columbia
Untitled Rant

Part 4

Poem for Poets House
Poem for Lola: Echoing Derek Walcott’s “Sixty Years After”
A Singer’s Siren Calling in Marcus Garvey Park: August 24th 2013
A Beautiful Woman Putting on Makeup on the Downtown Number 3 New York Subway Train
High Up in My Imagination: for Margaret
Locked Inside My Imagination: Take 2
Sometimes While Sitting on a Bench in Central Park
Telephone Call from Samo for Miles Davis: for Jean Michel Basquiat
Death Always Comes
A Remembrance for Prince (1958 – 2016)
Eye Remember the First Image of Madiba Mandela
Romare Bearden’s Art between 1964 & 1985
Poem for Jack Whitten
Lusting after Mangoes Number 3

Lessons in Seduction
Passing by La Casa of “Gabo”, March 7th 2014
Blue Mandala
What if Truth Can’t Seduce
Seduction
Usain Bolt’s final 2016 Olympics
Eye also Dream of Beauty
Each of Us Here
Lyric Still Life

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