Home – Page 21 – Nestucca Spit Press Meditations Blog

In perhaps the largest, most eclectic volume of previously unpublished poetry in the history of Pacific Northwest literature, Matt Love presents 148 poems written over a 30-year span.

As he writes in the introduction to A Substantial but Incomplete Autobiography in Poems, “I have organized this collection into six categories: Ocean, Love, My Life, Oregon Tavern Age, Homelessness, Probation. These poems serve as a substantial but incomplete autobiography.”

“Confessionals, odes, scatological doggerel, polemics, tankas, haiku, prose, psalms, requiems, observations, love letters, lamentations, lyrics, stream of consciousness, meditations, lists, riffs, a eulogy, a sermon, a commencement speech, found poetry, tributes, elegies. I threw it all into an ancient cement mixer and hand cranked that concrete beast while watching blue herons undulate overhead and drinking red wine as the husky snoozed in his dirt fort. The result: A Substantial but Incomplete Autobiography in Poems, something merging where Charles Bukowski, Richard Hugo, Mary Oliver and Liz Phair blend together.”

None of Love's poems were ever submitted to poetry journals, contests or magazines, making this collection a true renegade project of passion and readable to any denizen of a coastal dive bar.

Some Memories of Lincoln City

Oregon Tavern Age: A Portland Joint

Corona Virus Thoughts #22

Watching A Depoe Bay Storm

Talking Poetry With Dad

Idea for a New Story: Beaver Town (part 4)

Idea for a New Story: Beaver Town (part 3)

Ice Out Day 1 Observations and Activities

Snow Day Talk With My Dad

Idea for a New Story: Beaver Town (part 2)

Idea for a New Story: Beaver Town (part 1)

Of Dogs and Meaning 3 (another excerpt from my forthcoming book)

Of Dogs and Meaning 2 (another excerpt from my forthcoming book)

Of Dogs and Meaning (an excerpt from my forthcoming book)

Oregon Tavern Age: Death of Russell

Some More Stories From My Dad

Ditching Oregon’s State Song

Listening to Linda Ronstadt

Corona Virus Thoughts #21

The Permanent Impermanence of Driftwood Forts

Some Thoughts on Death

Marlboro Menthol 100s

Blues Brothers Backpack

Impressions From My Step Mother’s Internment

On Missing Howard Cosell While Watching an NFL Playoff Game

Pork and Beans or Beans and Pork For Dad

Portland Scenes 2

From My Window

What I Did During the (second) Impeachment

Ode to My New Toaster

Recent Images From Portland (A List)

Couple in a Pickup Truck

What I Did During the Attempted Coup

The William Blake Pickup

Dad and the Handy Plaid Pantry Constitution

Sellwood Walk 1-2-21

Walking in Rain with Big Changes on My Mind

Foxes

Beaverwood for Christmas!

Some New Things I Learned About My Father.