"If twentieth century California artists established a tradition of speculative innovation, then ushers visionary West Coast poetics into the twenty-first. Motika's ingenious ear renders place prosodic; his 'baroque leaps' tender a sprung rhythm that turns history into 'a theory at map's edge.' The 'mystic / gather' of this music gives Motika's ambitious projective praxis visual beauty and structural rigor. Open this book—'crawl inside & lie down against the future.'"—Brian Teare "While there's a dreamy Venusian quality to Stephen Motika's poetry, it's also driven by a care and clarity that animates its landscapes. Western Practice is a book that deserves attention for its rich intersections of projective acrobatics and coming-of-age memory-textures, conjuring the roar of the Pacific at every turn of the line." —Lisa Jarnot Shaped by California's cultural and political landscape, reflects on the rituals of artistic activity, including an obsessive scrutinizing of the founders of Los Angeles' postwar art scene, from composer Harry Partch to painter Richard Diebenkorn. Stephen Motika's debut collection draws striking parallels between geography and visionary artists' work, creating an aesthetic and emotive topos all its own. is the editor of (2009) and the author of the poetry chapbook (2007). His articles and poems have appeared in , , and , among others. A 2010–2011 Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Workspace Resident, he is the program director at Poets House and the publisher of Nightboat Books.