Andy Bott

The Poet

Andy Bott

“Palaboy” — the name he gave himself.

Andy Bott is an English teacher at Barnstable Academy in Oakland, New Jersey. He lives in Wallington with his lovely wife, Jessica.

He first wrote Palaboy more than twenty years ago — while he was supposed to be taking college courses in Tampa, Florida. The poems poured out in reaction to the life he was living; the explanations would come much later.

Recently, Andy returned to the manuscript with two decades of perspective and wrote an explanation for every poem — finishing what his younger self had only begun, and handing the reader a key to the work’s buried logic.

When the pen is down

Favorite writer

Shakespeare

Favorite poet

Emily Dickinson

Ice & field

Devils · Giants · Yankees

Best seat

1995 Stanley Cup

He was in the arena the night the New Jersey Devils clinched their first championship — Game Four of the 1995 Stanley Cup Finals.