Bachelor Pad

Bachelor Pad is Stephen Kampa's second collection of poems. Where Kampa's first collection wrestled with silence and how to fill it, his second addresses solitude. By turns moving and funny, the poems in this book explore various permutations of intimacy and isolation in contemporary culture, juxtaposing them with other models of intimacy and fruitful solitude. The collection is divided into three sections. ""Around Town"" focuses on relationships in the public sphere: bars, parties, restaurants, and the give-and-(more often)-take that happen in them. ""Sleepless with Reruns"" is a mixed suite of poems that deals with both the movies on late-night television and those private movies that loop through the speaker's head when he lies awake in bed. ""At Home"" collects poems about home not only as a place, but also as an idea, placing particular emphasis not on the homes we come from but the ones we make. Throughout, poetic craft provides a vehicle for a transcendence that is part faith, part laughter. Stephen Kampa was born in Missoula, Montana, in 1981 and grew up in Daytona Beach, Florida.