John Casteen

Biography

John Casteen is the author of two books of poems, Free Union (Georgia, 2009) and For the Mountain Laurel (Georgia, 2011). He has contributed poems to the Paris Review, the Southern Review, Ploughshares, Fence, and elsewhere, and his work has been anthologized in Best American Poetry. He teaches at the University of Virginia. 

See Work

CRITICISM / Fall 2020

Lived Experience

By John Casteen

Walt Whitman read of his brother George’s injury at the Battle of Fredericksburg in the New York Herald on December 16, 1862. Fredericksburg was but one battle among many, though it lasted five days, and nearly ten thousand Union army...
POETRY / Winter 2017

The Punchline

By John Casteen

You know I’m actually not who I appeared to be
kidding. I’m actually not sure this was my idea
of a good time, not sure what’s exactly what
in the glass elevator whose bellied window
swerves your face away from your face.
I’m actually not sure...

CRITICISM / Fall 2013

So History Begins With Us

By John Casteen

First and second books of poems come in two general flavors. The first is an omnibus collection; it shows us a young poet’s series of attempts to find her own way into the craft. The second type of early collection is cohesive, since it...
Summer 2007

Shoot the Messenger: Dana Goodyear, David Orr, and the Stewards of Poetry

By John Casteen
CRITICISM

Ashley Gilbertson in Charlottesville - Recap

By John Casteen

This past Saturday afternoon, photojournalist Ashley Gilbertson appeared in Charlottesville as part of the Festival of the Photograph, giving a talk co-sponsored by VQR and The Bridge Progressive Arts Initiative. Gilbertson read his essay...

ESSAYS / Fall 2004

Ditching the Rubric on Gun Control: Notes from an American Moderate

By John Casteen

Here’s the trouble: in America, our unique history of rebellion (against colonial rule, against domestic tyranny), expansion (westward, etc.), and individualism (the Enlightenment and all that) leaves us a peculiar cultural legacy. Our gun...