About Christopher

Christopher Keller is a poet, painter, bonsaist, and ultra endurance athlete.

 

Christopher studied and graduated from the University of Wisconsin, and Lewis and Clark College in Portland Oregon.  His first teaching position was as an Outdoor Science teacher in southern California’s San Bernardino Mountains. The following year he moved to Bozeman Montana and founded the Bozeman Poetry Society. In January of 2004 he returned to Wisconsin to attend graduate school, and during his studies completed his first book of poetry entitled, The Strongest Hand on the Loosest Rock.

 

Arriving in Portland Oregon in 2005, Christopher worked for the Pacific Northwest literary journal, Poetry Northwest. Between 2005-2009 he completed two books of poetry: Blindfolding the Nearsightedness of the Body and Twenty-Four Hours of Darkness, Twenty-Four Hours of Light. In 2010 he was awarded two writing residencies, one at Penland as well as the Montana Artist Refuge. From these residences, he produced his fourth book of poetry, The Great Room 2003-2011. In autumn 2010, Twenty-Four Hours of Darkness, Twenty-Four Hours of Light was nominated for the 2010 Oregon Poetry Book of Year Award. Following these collections, Christopher completed If this should be the voice that leads me (2014) and Self-Portrait and the Owed Praise (2018).

 

As a painter, Christopher composes portraits and landscapes that explore contemporary expressionism. His works depict meditations on the egocentric within a postmodern society. An intense mixture of colors and deep texture can be found in his works. In addition to poetry and painting, he has grown and nurtured bonsai for over ten years in the Pacific Northwest.

 

Christopher resides in Portland, Oregon.