Poetry. Question: When is a poet's first book a reader? Answer: When you're Garrett Caples, whose poetic persona is often-perverse, decidedly-decisive, randomly-rule-breaking and impoetically-casual. Yet, through it all, the reader experiences the pleasures and charms of reading a forbidden journal, written by a smart young writer. "Caples is part of a younger generation of writers reinvigorating contemporary poetry by combining modernist and Language-poetic verbal angularity with the sheer enthusiasm and lustiness of adolescence"—Publishers Weekly.

Author Hometown: Oakland, CA USA



About the author: Born in Lawrence, MA, in 1972, Garrett Caples is a poet living in Oakland, CA. He is the author of COMPLICATIONS (Meritage Press, 2007), THE GARRETT CAPLES READER (Angle Press/Black Square Editions, 1999), er um (Meritage Press, 2002), and The Philistine's Guide to Hip Hop (Ninevolt, 2004). He has published numerous essays, articles, and reviews. An editor at City Lights Books, Caples curates the new American poetry series, City Lights Spotlight. He also writes on hip hop, literature, and painting for the San Francisco Bay Guardian.