Wolf Face

by Matt Hart

A record of what it is like to be alive in this world. It is particular to one man, and his dog, his wife, his daughter, his friends, and a little house in Cincinnati in this century, and in being so faithful to the details of an individual existence, in sounding in minor keys, it is able to resonate in major ones. Where you might expect irony, there is intelligent empathy, where most of us would stop at sadness, Matt Hart persists into wonderment. He isn't feeling or noticing anything any of us haven't felt or noticed before. But his spirit might be extra large, more evolved, his armspan more expansive. He isn't blind to the small and large horrors or sadnesses of our time, but he is still choosing to sing. And the whole thing is a song. -Darcie Dennigan

Genres: Poetry

116 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2010

About the author

Matt Hart’s books include FAMILIAR (Pickpocket Books, 2022), Everything Breaking/For Good (YesYes Books, 2019), and The Obliterations (Pickpocket Books, 2019). His poems, reviews, and essays have been published in journals including American Poetry Review, Conduit, jubilat, The Kenyon Review, and Lungfull!, among others. His awards include a Pushcart Prize, a grant from The Shifting Foundation, and fellowships from both the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and the Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers.

Hart was a cofounder and the editor in chief of Forklift, Ohio: A Journal of Poetry, Cooking, & Light Industrial Safety from 1994–2019. A faculty mentor in the PNCA/Willamette University Low-Residency Creative Writing MFA Program and the head of creative writing at the Art Academy of Cincinnati, he has also been a visiting writer/professor at both the Vermont Studio Center and the University of Texas at Austin. Hart’s music has been featured on MTV and in major motion pictures, including Kevin Smith’s Mallrats. He plays in the post-punk/indie rock bands TRAVEL and NEVERNEW.

Older bio:

Matt Hart is the author of four books of poems, Who's Who Vivid (Slope Editions, 2006), Wolf Face (H_NGM_N BKS, 2010), Light-Headed (BlazeVOX, 2011), and Sermons and Lectures Both Blank and Relentless (Typecast Publishing, 2012), as well as several chapbooks. A fifth collection, Debacle Debacle, is forthcoming from H_NGM_N BKS in 2013. Additionally, his poems, reviews, and essays have appeared in numerous print and online journals, including Big Bell, Cincinnati Review, Coldfront, Columbia Poetry Review, H_NGM_N, Harvard Review, jubilat, Lungfull!, and Post Road, among others. His awards include a Pushcart Prize and fellowships from both the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference and the Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers. A co-founder and the editor-in-chief of Forklift, Ohio: A Journal of Poetry, Cooking & Light Industrial Safety, he lives in Cincinnati where he teaches at the Art Academy of Cincinnati and plays in the band TRAVEL. This fall he will be a Visiting Professor in Creative Writing at the University of Texas, Austin.

Reviews

[Benjamin Niespodziany · Rating 5 out of 5]

I saw Matt Hart read on Friday and finished this book a few days later. Hearing his voice and his energy enhanced these pieces. And the illustrations are killer! I can't think of a poet similar to Matt Hart, and for that, I am grateful for Matt Hart.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Saw Hart read at the Lincoln Mem. during AWP'11 and bought Wolf Face the next day. Effusive and composed with old-school punk rock energy and honesty, Wolf Face primarily deals with Hart's settling into the rhythms of starting a family life and balancing them with the lingering desires of his youth. Humor and love abound— particularly for his wife, daughter and dog—but Hart never veers into sentimentality, which is refreshing.
The book as a whole can feel a bit unbalanced—a few too many poems feel like filler—and doesn't consistently match the energetic persona I saw read. However, I was compelled to write whenever I picked the book up, and I think that's an incredibly telling characteristic.

I highly recommend picking this up and seeing Hart read.

[Paige · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOLF FACE has been included in Coldfront's Top 30 poetry books of 2010.

[Mark · Rating 1 out of 5]

Piss-poor dreck. It was a gift.

[Greg Bem · Rating 5 out of 5]

I felt my insides as my insides were the outsides of things I came to know and came to feel comfortable knowing, sicknesses and healths balanced sublime.