Matt Hart, an energetic, contemporary poet from Cincinnati, Ohio, was the opening artist for SMU’s 2011 Literary Festival. Hart’s punk rock looks, legitimized by performances over the years in the bands Travel and Squirtgun, and casual attitude brought a refreshing feeling of comfort to the traditional surroundings of the reading room at DeGolyer Library. Reading from his most recent book, Wolf Face, Matt’s enthusiastic and theatrical performance received complete attention from the diverse audience in attendance. He kept the audience smiling and laughing while he pointed out unnerving ironies of society and everyday life.
Paul Otremba, a guest poetry professor at SMU introduced Hart, describing his work as, “ordered chaos. Or at least chaos with a moral focus.” Hart’s moral focus is clear within his work where he promotes the idea of having higher expectations within humanity. Hart also draws inspiration from everyday life in his works; a recurring theme within Wolf Face is his family. He features his wife Melanie, daughter Agnes, and dog Daisy throughout his book. Hart explained that since he never has an intended subject for a poem as he begins writing, those closest to him end up making frequent appearances. His words are genuine and his thoughts are candid.
Harts range of subject matter is broad, including “Goodnight Everybody” which whimsically drew inspiration from his disturbance of a white page containing the 2 words “Goodnight Nobody” from the children’s favorite, “Goodnight Moon”. He closed with “History Lesson”, where Hart shared his passion for our earth as he ended with “Back before I started writing the same poem repeatedly, because I keep saying it and saying it but nobody ever hears me or they hear me and think I’m an idiot sincerest or for some reason I’m kidding I’m not kidding I love everybody I have high high expectations and often I’m so disappointed I want to stop hurting at the core of the stupid hot earth.”
The reading was a high energy performance which brought to life the poetry of Matt Hart. His casual attire and attitude made his reading intriguing and seemingly effortless. Effortless, however, it was not. During the Q&A after the reading, Hart revealed that he goes through revision on top of revision to perfect his “seemingly effortless” work. Whether you are introduced to his works through a live reading or by his books, Hart is a poet that engages both the poetry veteran and the novice.
