Post by John Cheddar on May 7, 2012 8:48:27 GMT -5
Matthew Dickman grew up amidst the gangs, drugs, and despair of the Lents District in Portland, Oregon. His is a story that could have easily turned out far differently than it has. Fortunately, the love and guidance offered by a courageous single mother, an empathetic twin brother, and the insightful words of authors and artists he grew up admiring insured that Matthew Dickman was able to make it through to the other side—able to stand before us tonight an award winning poet whose career, although at its beginning, is already making an impact on the world of poetry.
While his story is unique in so many ways, he found his start in poetry as many young men do, in the noble pursuit of young women—reading volumes and volumes of Neruda, Sexton, and Plath in an attempt to gain psychological pathways into the female soul. Once exposed to poetry however, Dickman realized its greater potential and became a disciplined student of the craft, immersing himself fully in its study. He has acknowledged the importance of being a voracious reader and the role that the works of others have played in nurturing him and transforming him into a poet. He has stated that, “it’s the fire in another person’s work that keeps us warm and lights the path to honesty” and honesty is exactly what he in turns offers to us, his readers, and what has allowed him to gain the respect of so many accomplished poets: Dorianne Laux, Tony Hoagland, Marie Howe, and the late Allan Ginsberg just to name a few.
The compelling nature of his own life’s story is only surpassed by the compelling nature of his poetry. He has been dubbed a postmodern Whitman, sounding his “barbaric yawp” over the strip-malls of America. And even a quick read of his poetry confirms that he too “is the poet of the body and the poet of the soul” as he sets forth to experience the pleasures and pains of the heaven and hell that we have made of our modern world. And “what he assumes” we, as 21st century Americans, must consume because Dickman’s poems take us on a journey across a landscape where we are able to travel from, “one state to another and never paint the same thing twice.” It is with an astute ear that Dickman hears America singing. Set to the beats of “Johnnie Cash, Biggie Smalls, Johan Sebastian Bach,” and “The Talking Heads,” his poetry presents the “varied carols” of “the skinny kid who sells cigarettes at the 7-11,” as well as his “dead English Professor” who regularly visits his dreams. The “varied carols” of “the man in the business suit, wrapped like a muzzle around his body,” as well as the “girl wearing a shirt that says TALK NERDY TO ME.”
His All-American Poem examines not only what makes us American, but what “makes us human, with the right to vote, assemble, and fall in love.” These poems dive headlong into our national psyche where the id finally has its day and gets its say.
Poet Tony Hoagland, who presented the Honickman Prize for Poetry to Matthew Dickman, says of our visiting poet:
“We turn loose such poets into our culture so that they can provoke the rest of us into saying everything on our minds.”
Dickman accepts his role as the poet and not only examines the mysteries “of things we will never hold in our hands,” but also inspires us to consider those things that we have, up until now, held mindlessly on countless occasions. Although Dickman claims that his own poetry is “not a giant leap/ into the science of compassion,” I respectfully disagree. Reading his poetry makes me feel more connected to all that is repulsive and attractive in our society and in ourselves and further helps me acknowledge the way in which we are all “broken in half and beautiful.”
I thank Matthew Dickman for his poetry and for sharing it with us this evening. Please join me in welcoming our 2009 Westfield High School Visiting Poet Matthew Dickman.
While his story is unique in so many ways, he found his start in poetry as many young men do, in the noble pursuit of young women—reading volumes and volumes of Neruda, Sexton, and Plath in an attempt to gain psychological pathways into the female soul. Once exposed to poetry however, Dickman realized its greater potential and became a disciplined student of the craft, immersing himself fully in its study. He has acknowledged the importance of being a voracious reader and the role that the works of others have played in nurturing him and transforming him into a poet. He has stated that, “it’s the fire in another person’s work that keeps us warm and lights the path to honesty” and honesty is exactly what he in turns offers to us, his readers, and what has allowed him to gain the respect of so many accomplished poets: Dorianne Laux, Tony Hoagland, Marie Howe, and the late Allan Ginsberg just to name a few.
The compelling nature of his own life’s story is only surpassed by the compelling nature of his poetry. He has been dubbed a postmodern Whitman, sounding his “barbaric yawp” over the strip-malls of America. And even a quick read of his poetry confirms that he too “is the poet of the body and the poet of the soul” as he sets forth to experience the pleasures and pains of the heaven and hell that we have made of our modern world. And “what he assumes” we, as 21st century Americans, must consume because Dickman’s poems take us on a journey across a landscape where we are able to travel from, “one state to another and never paint the same thing twice.” It is with an astute ear that Dickman hears America singing. Set to the beats of “Johnnie Cash, Biggie Smalls, Johan Sebastian Bach,” and “The Talking Heads,” his poetry presents the “varied carols” of “the skinny kid who sells cigarettes at the 7-11,” as well as his “dead English Professor” who regularly visits his dreams. The “varied carols” of “the man in the business suit, wrapped like a muzzle around his body,” as well as the “girl wearing a shirt that says TALK NERDY TO ME.”
His All-American Poem examines not only what makes us American, but what “makes us human, with the right to vote, assemble, and fall in love.” These poems dive headlong into our national psyche where the id finally has its day and gets its say.
Poet Tony Hoagland, who presented the Honickman Prize for Poetry to Matthew Dickman, says of our visiting poet:
“We turn loose such poets into our culture so that they can provoke the rest of us into saying everything on our minds.”
Dickman accepts his role as the poet and not only examines the mysteries “of things we will never hold in our hands,” but also inspires us to consider those things that we have, up until now, held mindlessly on countless occasions. Although Dickman claims that his own poetry is “not a giant leap/ into the science of compassion,” I respectfully disagree. Reading his poetry makes me feel more connected to all that is repulsive and attractive in our society and in ourselves and further helps me acknowledge the way in which we are all “broken in half and beautiful.”
I thank Matthew Dickman for his poetry and for sharing it with us this evening. Please join me in welcoming our 2009 Westfield High School Visiting Poet Matthew Dickman.