In Elegy for a Poem Garden George Melnyk has created a virtual garden of poetry as a tangible record of a temporary garden of visual poems created in response to a visit to the home of visual poet Ian Hamilton Findlay. "The visit," writes Melnyk, "changed my poetic life. I was instantly inspired to go forth and do likewise."

George Melnyk is a prominent writer of the Canadian West who lives in Calgary. He is the author of a half-dozen nonfiction books on the West, including the two-volume Literary History of Alberta. He has also previously published a book of poetry, Ribstones, with Ekstasis Editions. He teaches at the University of Calgary.