Garrett Caples

Last updated
Garrett Caples
Born1972 (age 51–52)
Lawrence, Massachusetts, United States
Occupation(s) Poet, editor, journalist
Years activeLate 1990s–present

Garrett Caples (born 1972) is an American poet and former music and arts journalist. Born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, he currently lives in San Francisco, California, after fifteen years in Oakland. [1] An editor at City Lights Books, Caples curates the new American poetry series, City Lights Spotlight. [2] From 2005 to 2014, he wrote on hip hop, literature, and painting for the San Francisco Bay Guardian, [3] and has written fiction on unusual sexual practices, like omorashi. [4]

As a hip hop journalist, Caples has been the first write on various Bay Area rappers, including J Stalin, [5] D-Lo, [6] Eddi Projex, [7] Traxamillion, Droop-E, [8] and Shady Nate. [9] He's also written cover stories on more established stars like E-40, [10] Mac Dre, [11] Mistah FAB, [12] Husalah (Mob Figaz), [13] and The Jacka (Mob Figaz). [14] Significantly, his interview with Shock-G of Digital Underground announced the end of that classic hip hop crew. [15]

Caples is the author of The Garrett Caples Reader (Angle Press/Black Square Editions, 1999), er, um (Meritage Press, 2002), The Philistine's Guide to Hip Hop (Ninevolt, 2004), and Complications (Meritage Press, 2007). [16] In 2006, Narrow house Recordings released a cd of Caples reading his poems with lo-fi musical accompaniment called Surrealism's Bad Rap. His latest book of poems, Power Ballads, appeared from Wave Books in September 2016. [17]

Caples is also the editor of Pocket Poets Number 60, When I Was a Poet, by David Meltzer (City Lights, 2011) and Number 59, Tau by Philip Lamantia & Journey to the End by John Hoffman (City Lights, 2008). [18] His pamphlet, Quintessence of the Minor: Symbolist Poetry in English, was published by Wave Books in 2010. [19] With Nancy Peters and Andrew Joron, he is the editor of The Collected Poems of Philip Lamantia for the University of California Press (2013). With Julien Poirier, he has edited Incidents of Travel in Poetry: New and Selected Poems by New York School poet Frank Lima for City Lights Books (2016). [20] A shortened version of his introduction, "The Lives of Frank Lima," received the Editors Prize for Best Feature Article from Poetry magazine. [21] His book of essays, Retrievals, was published in 2014 by Wave Books, and features essays he wrote over a ten-year period about various writers and artists who have disappeared from view or never achieved much visibility despite their significance, "written in Caples' signature blend of erudition and élan." [22] Caples also edited Mule Kick Blues, And Last Poems (City Lights Publishers, 2021), the final book of poems by Michael McClure. [23]

Bibliography

Full-length poetry collections
Fiction
Critique
Audio CDs
Chapbooks
Pamphlets
Anthology appearances

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References

  1. ↑ "PhillySound: new poetry". Phillysound.blogspot.com. Retrieved October 21, 2011.
  2. ↑ "City Lights Books : City Lights Spotlight". Citylights.com. Retrieved October 21, 2011.
  3. ↑ "Masthead | San Francisco Bay Guardian". Sfbg.com. Retrieved October 21, 2011.
  4. ↑ Caples, Garrett (11 February 2006). "The Omorashi Girls". The Brooklyn Rail. Retrieved October 21, 2011.
  5. ↑ http://www.sfbg.com/2006/04/25/ruling-party and http://www.sfbg.com/2010/02/09/80s-babies
  6. ↑ "D-Lo | San Francisco Bay Guardian". Sfbg.com. Retrieved October 21, 2011.
  7. ↑ "On like him | San Francisco Bay Guardian". Sfbg.com. April 6, 2005. Retrieved October 21, 2011.
  8. ↑ "Say 'Bay'; San Francisco Bay Guardian". Sfbg.com. Retrieved May 5, 2014.
  9. ↑ "Out of the shadows | San Francisco Bay Guardian". Sfbg.com. Retrieved October 21, 2011.
  10. ↑ sfbg. "San Francisco Bay Guardian | News". Sfbg.com. Retrieved October 21, 2011.
  11. ↑ sfbg. "San Francisco Bay Guardian | News". Sfbg.com. Retrieved October 21, 2011.
  12. ↑ "Holdin' the weight of the Bay | San Francisco Bay Guardian". Sfbg.com. Retrieved October 21, 2011.
  13. ↑ Administrator (July 12, 2006). "Hyphy Thizz Go: Dope, rap, and religion". Hyphythizzgo.blogspot.com. Retrieved October 21, 2011.
  14. ↑ "Tears of a thug | San Francisco Bay Guardian". Sfbg.com. Retrieved October 21, 2011.
  15. ↑ "Shocked, G? | San Francisco Bay Guardian". Sfbg.com. Retrieved October 21, 2011.
  16. ↑ "Verse: NEW! Review of Garrett Caples". Versemag.blogspot.com. April 22, 2008. Retrieved October 21, 2011.
  17. ↑ "Power Ballads".
  18. ↑ "Tau By Philip Lamantia and Journey to the End By John Hoffman, Pocket Poets Number 59". Citylights.com. April 22, 2008. Retrieved October 21, 2011.
  19. ↑ "Wave Books". Wavepoetry.com. Retrieved October 21, 2011.[ permanent dead link ]
  20. ↑ "Incidents of Travel in Poetry: New and Selected Poems | Harvard Review Online". Archived from the original on 2017-03-30. Retrieved 2019-05-12.
  21. ↑ "2016 Prizes for Contributors to Poetry Announced". 21 September 2021.
  22. ↑ "Fall Arts 2014: Books: What You Need to Read and Which Literary Events You Need to Attend This Season".
  23. ↑ "The Book".
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