Winner of the 2023 Trio Award, Christian Gullette's Coachella Elegy explores the queer promised lands and poolside utopias of the American West even as they are threatened by environmental destruction. With precision and clarity, Gullette's poems wander the desert landscape of California, reveling in its beauties and challenging its sacred myths. His speaker seamlessly transports us from a hospital room where his husband battles cancer to the Palm Springs oasis where the vacationing couple celebrates survival. But their days of mimosas and the "spirit of unrestraint" are haunted by tragedy-the death of a young brother, the danger of climate change. In this utterly original debut, Gullette casts "a dream world that doesn't erode, doesn't mold," a story of pleasure against the odds, a story of endurance. Coachella Elegy is a lament for what is lost, and also an unforgettable song of hope and renewal.
