Subject to Change

by Matthew Thorburn

Poetry. "Matthew Thorburn's SUBJECT TO CHANGE gives us a poetry of the meta-empirical, asking, `It's not too late, is it?' Exuberant and crystalline, these poems articulate the problematic beauty of our grand mix-up, our new and comic Dark Ages. The next time a student asks me, `What's after Postmodernism?' I'll tell her, `Read this.'"--Angela Ball

Genres: Poetry

73 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Glenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Matt Thorburn's “Subject to Change,” we are in the presence of a poet of great confidence and force. He creates astonishing images--the first lines of “Portrait of Former Lovers…” contains one of the loveliest and most evocative physical images I've come across in a long time. Elsewhere perfectly likening an emotional state to a particular kind of cheese; and in the breathtaking extended poem “The River,” amongst devastating emotional upheaval we receive a perfect aphorism: “Get your heart into this, or else get it out of your heart.”

He is a poet who can wield form, yet still maintain a sense of play, wield it so lightly that, with the exception of one terrifically playful poem with a terrific and unavoidable rhyme for “Stratocaster,” you don't notice until you take in the actual words on the page. It's a real accomplishment.

But if all STC was was an exercise in formalities and subtle trickery, it would not be enough. What Matt Thorburn accomplishes in this book, is to make the floor shift under the reader without ever losing them. As you read these poems, you occasionally get a truly disconcerting sense of dislocation--what is going on? Where are we? There is almost a feeling that the poet intends to disorient. He paints things in opposition; things not as they should be. He makes unlikely connections in imagery that stretch the reader's concept of metaphor, yet hold together perfectly,

But Matt Thorburn never loses the heart--the essence--of his poems in mere wordplay. He bends language to the work of finding out “where” things really are, and even if that means getting temporarily farther away from true destination, Matt Thorburn's ability to take himself and his reader out, with the delivered promise of return, perhaps not safe, perhaps not emotionally unchanged, yet…where the poem belongs, make STC a mesmerizing and endlessly enjoyable reading experience.

[Meghan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've known this guy since high school. He is not a goodreads author nor does he spam your profile with self-promotion. But he is a damn fine writer and poet. So check it out if it's your bag.

[Keith Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good first book by a former student of mine who has gone on to write several more even better books. It has been fun to watch this poet change and develop over the years. Here's a short thing I wrote about this book back when it first appeared:

https://annarborobserver.com/articles...

[Claire S]

http://matthewthorburn.blogspot.com/

from that blog:

Did anyone else catch a faint echo of Shakespeare's St. Crispen's Day speech in the closing of President Obama's speech last night?

Henry V:

This day is call'd the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian.'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispian's day.'
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words-
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester-
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;



Obama:

And if we do - if we come together and lift this nation from the depths of this crisis; if we put our people back to work and restart the engine of our prosperity; if we confront without fear the challenges of our time and summon that enduring spirit of an America that does not quit, then someday years from now our children can tell their children that this was the time when we performed, in the words that are carved into this very chamber, "something worthy to be remembered."

***

It's just a slight echo, but it made me enjoy the speech even more -- a third smile, following one at Obama's greeting to the First Lady, and another at Biden's big grin at the "No one messes with Joe" line.

///////////////////////////////////

Ok, I'm a fan!

And actually, I vaguely would like to try and say that I was --slightly-- aware of that as well. I've seen that speech in 'Renaissance Man' (ok, hokey movie, sure, but still kinda great) and I was listening and synapsis were clicking on some level. I'm grateful to him for making the connection distinctly.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

still reading