"A strutting, dazzling, exhilarating" collection of poems by the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award-winning author of The Cloud Corporation ( The Village Voice).

In his critically acclaimed debut collection, Timothy Donnelly pairs an extraordinary gift for rhetorical exuberance with a stunning formal mastery. The title poem conjures an imaginary play, populated by objects, that forms an allegorical rendering of a single lifetime. In "Accidental Species," he puts forth a remarkable statement about his own efforts as a poet, a humorous ars poetica by way of a heartbreaking lover's complaint. For its thoughtfulness, range, and sheer energy, Twenty-Seven Props for a Production of Eine Lebenszeit is a remarkable work from one of our most original young poets.

"Filled with dreams both romantic and funny... [Donnelly's] self-deprecating surrealism is vivid and often touching." -Ken Tucker, The Baltimore Sun