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In perhaps the largest, most eclectic volume of previously unpublished poetry in the history of Pacific Northwest literature, Matt Love presents 148 poems written over a 30-year span.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

About a Friend and Collaborator

On Maps and Journeys

Maps and Journeys Prompts and Exercises

Dogs Raining (reigning) in My Mind 12

Dogs Raining (reigning) in My Mind 11

Dogs Raining (reigning) in My Mind 10

Fort Messages 4

City Scenes, Thoughts from the City, A Story

Bonnie and Clyde Files 43

Bonnie and Clyde Files 42

Oregon Tavern Age: Apples and Muscle Cars

Fort Messages 3

Fort Messages 2

Fort Messages 1

A Big City Story

Birthday Meditations

Blades of Grass (not a probation poem)

Mr. Beaver

Missed Opportunities

A Bald Eagle Splattering

Bonnie and Clyde Files 41

Oregon Tavern Age: VR

Cedar Seat Ass to Chair

Raymond Carver Rain Thoughts

The City, a Story Again

On Oregon Guns in My Life

Bonnie and Clyde Files 40

Sartre On Writing

Oregon Tavern Age: Snow Day

Dogs Raining (reigning) in My Mind 10

Dogs Raining (reigning) in My Mind 9

Dogs Raining (reigning) in My Mind 8

Maps and Journeys Writing Workshop in Astoria March 24

Yet again, a Short Story From the City

On Watching Perry Mason with My Dad

Probation Poem February 5

Living Poetry With My Old Man

Love/Valentine’s Day Writing Workshop

February Musings Overlooking Youngs’ Bay

Good Fortune and Its Possible Origins