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In perhaps the largest, most eclectic volume of previously unpublished poetry in the history of Pacific Northwest literature, Matt Love presents 148 poems written over a 30-year span.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

Thinking About Jim Harrison, Dalva and My Future

Master Teachers in My Life

Oregon’s Bottle Bill Deposit Rate Increases to Ten Cents!

The Origins of Naming Nestucca Spit Press

On Driftwood Fort Building

Three Recent Deaths: Breslin, Berry, Barris

Lost and Found 2: Rescuing Dogs, Reality and Metaphor

Twentieth Anniversary of Heaven’s Gate Cult Suicide and its Oregon Coast Roots

The Keyhole Limpet Magical Necklace

On Detective Fiction and a Writing Workshop in Astoria

Lost and Found in Our Lives; the Beginning of My Journey

Shipwreck Tuesday and Oregon Tavern Age Life

The Beavers in My Life

NSP Meditations Blog Welcomes You