In his first collection since English (2004), Jeet
Thayil offers a startling meditation on grief. In poems
shaped by tenderness and rage, time is a continuous
present, visited by Beethoven and Babur, by unnamed
protagonists for whom religion and addictions are
interchangeable, and by a remote god-like figure who
will “lick / your wound with his infected tongue”. Thayil
uses fixed and invented forms – rhymed syllabics, terza
rima, ghazals, sonnets, the sestina, the canzone, stealth
rhymes – in his most effective work to date. These
Errors are Correct is a haunting book by “one of the
most engaging voices you will read, full of wisdom and
regret.”
About the Author
Jeet Thayil was born in Kerala, India, and educated
in Mumbai, Hong Kong and New York. His poetry
collections include English and Apocalypso, and he is the
editor of The Bloodaxe Book of Contemporary Indian
Poets. He lives in Mumbai.
