Virginia Konchan Purchase

Oct 2, 2024 | beta.poetryfoundation.org | Christian Gullette |Virginia Konchan |Virginia Konchan Purchase

Californian landscapes in crisis and transitiveness as a state of being frame Christian Gullette’s Coachella Elegy. These chiseled, cartographic poems take us through Joshua Tree, Palm Springs, Santa Cruz, Mendocino, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, in intimate, foreboding portraits of self, state, family, and love. The poet, seeking terra firma, proves place to be a metaphor for mind:We spent the nightlooking at lights on mansionsin the Provo hills wherethere were songs and warm babies.