Proving Nothing to Anyone

by Matt Cook

Poetry. "The thing about Matt's writing, 'poetry' if you will, is that it's funny. Not 'funny for poetry' but straight up funny. And thoughtful. And human."--David Cross"Matt Cook sings the unsung--the restaurant supply store, the backs of paintings--while teasing our unexamined lives. His poems point to our emotional slippage, revealing the Spanish Cement Mixer to be much more than the Spanish Cement Mixer. You're all like 'Nuh uh' and these poems are all like 'Uh huh.'"--Sommer Browning

Genres: Poetry

86 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2013

Reviews

[jules · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Every thirty-six months I have a nervous breakdown,
And then I forget who I am, and then some time passes,
And then I remember who I am, and it keeps me young.

A submarine crew of poets would be a mistake.
The fish in the ocean have no fresh water to drink.
Has anybody ever thought of that before?”

“You feel a kind of existential panic when you see your wife’s car somewhere.
My grandfather said death is like looking at your house from across the street.
It’s probably something like that.”

“Through our insanity and our desperation
We accomplish as much as through our discipline.”

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much of my reaction to Matt Cook’s book:

lol
aw
whooooa

I was assaulted by poem face smacks and caresses. I was laughing and feeling bad at the same time. Like usual. It took me a long time to read this because I started it, then lost it in a pile of magazines, then found it again.

“There’s organ failure and there’s organ grinder failure
And there’s you’re dead in the ground failure
And there’s rainbow peppermint lip balm failure.”

[Kyle Miner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lines like "If the birds sang in English / the morning would be unbearable," and "The dead chicken was expensive / because it was a chicken that had had a good childhood," and the entire poem about the guy who thinks the actors in Gilligan's Island are actually being held on a desert island against their will make this worth reading, even if the ones like that are a little few and far between.

[Rupert · Rating 4 out of 5]

For me one of the pleasures/purposes of good poetry is to make you feel less alone in the cosmos and this book definitely does that. Everyman plowing on through the backwardness of what passes for modern these days and spinning magic by turning the mundane onto its head.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

funny, well put together

[J.A. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to love this but didn't. No digestible reason either, though I'm not sure poetry needs a reason for what it does or doesn't generate. But David Cross loved it, and that guy is badass.

[Micheal Mckay · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good I'm reading it again.

[Brooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

However Matt Cook puts words together, I seem to enjoy it.

"A line drawing of a town drunk at mid century.
He's a broken down alcoholic, but he's still wearing a suit and a fedora.
Only the brim of his hat is flipped up, bubbles coming from his mouth.

This was back when degenerates still tucked in their shirts-
Back when we still paid attention to the shirttails of degenerates."