-
My Ear is Full of Milk
Broken Sleep’s new anthology My Ear is Full of Milk is a fantastic thing. Comparisons with Samuel Beckett, who wrote Waiting for Godot with Ollie and Stan in mind, make perfect sense. The surreal mixes with the existential within these pages. It also serves as a primer for the best work of the comedy duo.… Read more
-
Finished Creatures
It’s always great to see a new issue of Finished Creatures, edited by Jan Heritage. Her online launches understand the pleasure of sharing work with like-minded people (there’s an in-person launch in London, too). I often find that editors choose poems I don’t particularly care for, but Jan always picks the ones I would hope… Read more
-
Poetry London
There’s lots of good news to share, including a poem in Poetry London. It’s called ‘Enquiry’ and I’m really grateful to editor Niall Campbell for taking it. As with all issues under his editorship, it’s surrounded by good work. Read more
-
On ‘Landscape’
Great to have my poem ‘Landscape’ appear in the Ted Hughes sister journal Recklings. It won the William Soutar prize in 2020, judged by Samuel Tongue. Here’s the essay I wrote to accompany it: A decade ago, I was driving from Lisbon down to Aljezur in Southwest Portugal on Easter Sunday. The heat was direct… Read more
-
Good Grief?
Ninny, the Invisible Girl, Tove Jansson I gave a research lecture at Falmouth University this week. It was great to take the opportunity to visit the campus, try the Spring Ale at the Seven Stars and sample native oysters at the Beach House. Here’s the abstract of my paper ‘Good Grief – Literary Techniques for… Read more
-
‘Thinking of Blade Runner in the Turkish Quarter of Berlin’
What a pleasant surprise to learn that this poem was shortlisted by Abigail Parry for the 2024 Live Canon International Poem competition. Not least because it documents a trip from the Czech Republic to Germany eighteen years ago, when I and my then girlfriend hitched a lift from Prague to attend a christening in Hamburg.… Read more
Blog
About Me
An award-winning poet and educator based in the South West of England.
Matt is a fine communicator who engages audiences and groups quickly and easily. He enables and energises people, whatever their age or background. He is not afraid to explore unusual routes to engage people and it is this precisely that so often generates a successful outcome. People are surprised by him and, in turn, they frequently surprise themselves.
Pat Winslow, poet
Matt Bryden Poetry 