Beasts and Violins is a collection of American narrative poetry addressing themes of life and work in the western United States. The poems read like broken country songs sung from a paved farm: dead deer and train trips, a dog at the edge of the fire. Beasts and Violins begins with a dark birth and finishes at peace on the water, with the necessary stops in between.

Caleb Barber lives in Bellingham, Washington, where he works days at an aerospace machine shop. He earned a BA from Western Washington University in English/Creative Writing, and received an MFA in poetry from the Northwest Institute of Literary Arts, based off of Whidbey Island. He has been widely published in literary magazines, most notably with a feature in Poet Lore. The title poem of this book appeared in Best American Poetry 2009.