Overview
Prolific poet, award-winning translator, esteemed critic—“certainly the best poetry critic in sight,” according to Lawrence Ferlinghetti—essayist and journalist, editor and novelist, Stephen Kessler has been a constant creative force in the American literary counterculture for more than fifty years. Rooted in his native California yet belonging to no particular school or movement, Kessler has absorbed and remixed the influence of poets as diverse as Charles Bukowski and Denise Levertov, Gerard Manley Hopkins and Edna St. Vincent Millay, Pablo Neruda and Rainer Maria Rilke.
In Garage Elegies Kessler records with grief and wit, documentary realism and ranging imagination, poignancy and irony, a journey through the gains and losses of a lifetime. From the twenty-four numbered poems of the title (composed in the poet’s garage) to fanciful inventions like “My Gym at Midnight,” passionate meditations like “River Lovers,” and nightmarish visions like “Bedless in Bedlam,” his emotional honesty, conversational lyricism, and wry melancholy are at once dazzling and down to earth, heart-opening and consciousness-wrenching, retro-romantic and totally contemporary.
Open this book to any page and find an unmistakably authentic voice
In Garage Elegies Kessler records with grief and wit, documentary realism and ranging imagination, poignancy and irony, a journey through the gains and losses of a lifetime. From the twenty-four numbered poems of the title (composed in the poet’s garage) to fanciful inventions like “My Gym at Midnight,” passionate meditations like “River Lovers,” and nightmarish visions like “Bedless in Bedlam,” his emotional honesty, conversational lyricism, and wry melancholy are at once dazzling and down to earth, heart-opening and consciousness-wrenching, retro-romantic and totally contemporary.
Open this book to any page and find an unmistakably authentic voice
While major retailers like Amazon may carry The Garage Elegies, we specialize in bulk book sales and offer personalized service from our friendly, book-smart team based in Portland, Oregon. We’re proud to offer a Price Match Guarantee and a streamlined ordering experience from people who truly care.
We’re trusted by over 75,000 customers, many of whom return time and again. Want proof? Just check out our 25,000+ customer reviews—real feedback from people who love how we do business.
Prefer to talk to a real person? Our Book Specialists are here Monday–Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. PST and ready to help with your bulk order of The Garage Elegies.