Description
Going
by Richard N. Matzen, Jr.
$14.99, paper
978-1-63534-109-6
2017
In the mid-1980s, Richard Matzen published poems in magazines and newspapers in the Pacific Northwest. In 1985, he wrote and published The Artist’s Album, an illustrated prose poetry chapbook. His new poetry chapbook, Going, reflects the Los Angeles landscape, listening to jazz, experiencing the death of both parents, commuting on the interstate, and stopping to find insight.
After growing up in Bluffton, Indiana, Richard Matzen—inspired by artists and jazz musicians— published poems, poetry books, and jazz articles in the Pacific Northwest during the 1980s. Then, in order to pay the bills, he earned academic degrees and fostered teaching success. Eventually, his expertise in writing and teaching meant he created a writing center and writing department at Woodbury University in Burbank, California. At the same time, but after 30 years, his desire to write poetry rekindled itself to the point that in 2009, he began writing Going, a chapbook that he completed in 2014. Going’s narrator, though images and commuting, tells a story about Los Angeles and the tensions between the need to stay in one place and never being totally in one place.
Rating: ***** [5 of 5 Stars!]
Each poem in Richard N. Matzen, Jr’s outstanding new collection Going is sharpened to deftly take the reader through the byroads of self—to “shift in between speeds.” Matzen reveals the raw Los Angles where “light gray air masses slide in the morning wind / slipping in between mountains,” and where “strong winds flow. . .shouting their stories / on the road filled with stories.” Each poem is buzzing with energy and precision.
Leah Maines, best-selling, award-winning author, editor and actor
Will Ezell –
Amazing! A fun read.
Deborah Marrott –
“Love Going’s poetry, and I love the way Rich’s so beautifully captured the good and not-so-good 😉 of southern California in this collection!”
–Deborah Marrott, English professor
Laurel DiGangi –
“I love the way Rich’s observations take in not just the natural landscapes, but the people, their vehicles, and the artificial landscapes created by technology, connected through the arterial highway, humming along to the rhythm of jazz…. He captures the occasional drama in his daily commute. In ‘Fire in Newhall Pass,’ his description of the body was chilling. In ‘Acting Out,’ I loved the way everyone—Rich, the cops, and the aging beatnik throwbacks—were all acting out. And I thought ‘Jump a Bit’ was a perfect denouement to everything that had happened during the narrator’s summer of driving and coping with grief.” –Laurel DiGangi, creative writer, journalist, and English professor
Raenah Alagrabli –
In March 2017, Raenah Alagrabli interviewed Richard, and as a result, she created an edited 20-minute interview.https://www.dropbox.com/s/i0r3myoggyfw7cg/Richard%20Matzen%20Interview.mp3?dl=0
Will Ezell –
In April 2017, Will Ezell interviewed Richard N. Matzen, Jr. about his poetry book, Going.The videotaped interview wonderfully morphed into a 5-minute artistic biopic!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAY7ietLRVI