Synopses & Reviews
Poetry. Matt Hart brings the so-called "New Sincerity" to the forefront of American poetry with his stunningly kinetic debut collection, WHO'S WHO VIVID. Stripped of the pretense of much of the writing of his younger peers, Hart's is a heartfelt and life-affirming poetry that alternately celebrates and berates human existence. Tired of post-irony and posturing? Matt Hart is for you. "When Caesar said about horses that if the gods hadn't invented them, we would have to, he could have been talking about Matt Hart whose poems are of such immediate, radiant presence, they seem as true and necessary as air. In vital self-sabotages and improvisational self-renewals, the buzz of the mosh-pit pokes us through the sky. The book you now hold inyour hands is luxurious with nerve, speed and crash, the work of an explorative explosiveness that is constantly whacked by the world as it is. Welcome to a new realism hatching from the old. Welcome to the human heart. Welcome to the launch site"--Dean Young.
About the Author
Matt Hart was born in Evansville, Indiana in 1969. He studied philosophy at Ball State University and Ohio University before going on to receive his MFA in poetry from the Warren Wilson College MFA Program. His poems have been published in numerous journals including The Canary, Conduit, Ploughshares, Salt Hill and Spinning Jenny. Online his work can be seen in such journals as Diagram, H_NGM_N, Octopus, Stirring and Typo. A chapbook, Revelated, was released in 2005 by Hollyridge Press. Twice nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and in 2003 for The Best American Poetry, he has also been awarded fellowships from both the Bread Loaf Writer's Conference and the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers. He is a co-founder and editor of Forklift, Ohio: A Journal of Poetry, Cooking, and Light Industrial Safety. In addition, he is also managing editor of Incliner, a student-run journal of visual and literary arts out of the Art Academy of Cincinnati, where he teaches writing, literature and aesthetics. A twenty year veteran of the punk rock music scene, his music has appeared in major motion pictures and on MTV. He lives in Cincinnati with his wife Melanie, their dog, Daisy, and cat, Jackson.