Boxing the Compass (2013)

Praise for Boxing the Compass

“For the reader who revisits poems and is able to join in their making, there are many pleasures here.”
– Jane Routh, Magma

“Bryden displays a confidence which ensures that his first collection hits the target.”
– Louise Crossley, The Interpreter’s House

You can never escape yourself. Taking in childhood, teaching, Eastern Europe, relationships, illness and death, the narrator of Boxing the Compass ends up where he began, but with an altered perspective. As the nautical term of the title, which refers to a wind blowing from all 36 points of the compass in quick succession, implies figuratively, travel can lead you to change your mind and change it back.

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Poems

The Night Sky

Who brings these star- and crescent-
shaped pastries, each filled with vanilla
or jam, to my bed each morning?

     Such nursery shapes are clearly beneficent,
like knowing which berries are sour
and which are ripe by sight.

     I stare past my desk to the window
     and wipe my dreams like a slate.

‘Praha 1’ audio recording

‘Fable’ audio recording

Boxing the Compass launch

Keats House, Boxing the Compass launch with Beatrice Garland 2013

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