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Counting Sheep Till Doomsday
Carlo Matos offers us original, honest, highly charged poetry with mature, hard-won insights and a gift for language. I recommend Counting Sheep Till Doomsday to anyone interested in modern poetry.
—Simon Perchik, author of Hands Collected
Much like the “Relaxed Bared-Teeth Display” he describes in his poem of the same name, Matos’s poetry kindly bites you…the reader gets playful-yet-poignant, bite-sized poetic declarations and imaginative and unforgettable landscapes of more teeth, flashcards, electric fences, court cases and death rays. Here the bizarre and everyday meet in unique combinations in a succession of wild and intriguing poems. Matos treats language refreshingly as his own Mr. Potato Head doll warning us, “That is not how you intimidate an octopus.”
—Lina ramona Vitkauskas, author of The Range of Your Amazing Nothing
Matos’s Counting Sheep Till Doomsday asks us: how can we sleep, knowing what we know? These sleek and shadowy poems navigate our collective consciousness as shaped by popular culture. They pluck the dark charms hidden in the tusks of narwhals, in houses “monstered-over” and populated with unwanted boogeymen, in the circuit boards of robots longing to be human. Sharp, wicked, and unique, Matos’s collection is an examination of our own wakefulness, of our synapses firing with memory and premonition, with the projections of catastrophes as imagined by a nation of insomniacs.
—Susan Slaviero, author of Cyborgia
The apocalyptic micro-narratives in Carlo Matos’ Counting Sheep Till Doomsday prove that a prose poem can be as delicate as a jewelry hammer or sweeping as a death ray. “Dainty” and “razor-faced,” these poems trundle and dash like the boogeymen, narwhals, and robots that they contain, taking you with them through a jungle that is funny and lonely, as beast-filled and daring as a child’s toybox.
—Kathleen Rooney, author of Oneiromance (an epithalamion)
Carlo Matos has published poems in 5x5, kill author, The Houston Literary Review, Radiant Turnstile, DIAGRAM, The Mad Hatters' Review, and narrative (dis)continuities, among others. He is the author of a previous collection of poems entitled, A School for Fishermen (BrickHouse Books). He teaches writing at the City Colleges of Chicago by day and competes in MMA by night. On his off hours he can be found entertaining clients at the Chicago Poetry Brothel.
—Simon Perchik, author of Hands Collected
Much like the “Relaxed Bared-Teeth Display” he describes in his poem of the same name, Matos’s poetry kindly bites you…the reader gets playful-yet-poignant, bite-sized poetic declarations and imaginative and unforgettable landscapes of more teeth, flashcards, electric fences, court cases and death rays. Here the bizarre and everyday meet in unique combinations in a succession of wild and intriguing poems. Matos treats language refreshingly as his own Mr. Potato Head doll warning us, “That is not how you intimidate an octopus.”
—Lina ramona Vitkauskas, author of The Range of Your Amazing Nothing
Matos’s Counting Sheep Till Doomsday asks us: how can we sleep, knowing what we know? These sleek and shadowy poems navigate our collective consciousness as shaped by popular culture. They pluck the dark charms hidden in the tusks of narwhals, in houses “monstered-over” and populated with unwanted boogeymen, in the circuit boards of robots longing to be human. Sharp, wicked, and unique, Matos’s collection is an examination of our own wakefulness, of our synapses firing with memory and premonition, with the projections of catastrophes as imagined by a nation of insomniacs.
—Susan Slaviero, author of Cyborgia
The apocalyptic micro-narratives in Carlo Matos’ Counting Sheep Till Doomsday prove that a prose poem can be as delicate as a jewelry hammer or sweeping as a death ray. “Dainty” and “razor-faced,” these poems trundle and dash like the boogeymen, narwhals, and robots that they contain, taking you with them through a jungle that is funny and lonely, as beast-filled and daring as a child’s toybox.
—Kathleen Rooney, author of Oneiromance (an epithalamion)
Carlo Matos has published poems in 5x5, kill author, The Houston Literary Review, Radiant Turnstile, DIAGRAM, The Mad Hatters' Review, and narrative (dis)continuities, among others. He is the author of a previous collection of poems entitled, A School for Fishermen (BrickHouse Books). He teaches writing at the City Colleges of Chicago by day and competes in MMA by night. On his off hours he can be found entertaining clients at the Chicago Poetry Brothel.
100 pages, Paperback
First published December 14, 2011
2 people want to read
About the author
Carlo Matos
12 books19 followersCarlo Matos is a bi+ author, who has published 13 books, including As Malcriadas or Names We Inherit (New Meridian Arts) and We Prefer the Damned (Unbound Edition Press). He also co-edited an anthology with Luis Gonçalves titled, Writers of the Portuguese Diaspora in the United States and Canada. His poems, stories, and essays have appeared in such journals as RHINO, [PANK], DIAGRAM, and HOBART, among many others. Carlo has received grants and fellowships from Disquiet ILP, CantoMundo, the Illinois Arts Council, the Sundress Academy for the Arts, and the La Romita School of Art in Italy. He is a winner of the Heartland Poetry Prize and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. He currently lives in Chicago, IL, is a professor at the City Colleges of Chicago, and a former MMA fighter and kickboxer. He blogs at carlomatos.blogspot.com. Follow him on Twitter @CarloMatos46.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 13, 2024
“Like the old man who lived with a wake of vultures so he would know exactly what would happen to him when he died”
Bought this on a whim at my favorite bookstore and was not disappointed—can’t help but think I’ve uncovered one of the best-kept secrets in poetry. Matos’ images are vivid and haunting, his experiments in form/narrative on par with e.e. cummings or David Berman. A tiny masterwork. Bi+ solidarity!
Bought this on a whim at my favorite bookstore and was not disappointed—can’t help but think I’ve uncovered one of the best-kept secrets in poetry. Matos’ images are vivid and haunting, his experiments in form/narrative on par with e.e. cummings or David Berman. A tiny masterwork. Bi+ solidarity!
Displaying 1 of 1 review