Poetry fills a space that other written mediums cannot. “What I love about writing poetry and reading poetry is that it can hold multiple points of view and perspectives simultaneously. Prose feels kind of moving toward a conclusion. I like that poetry can be … much more like a real experience of the mind, of consciousness. We might try to make a point, but the world doesn’t always make a point.”
That’s local poet Matt Daly. He just released two new poetry books, Red State and Between Here and Home. The former is imbued with a strong sense of place and time. You can probably guess the place and as for the time, Daly’s poetry captures the angst, uncertainty and paralysis that, for many, came to define the time leading up to the 2016 presidential election. As for his other new book, Between Here and Home, Daly pulls readers into an immersive narrative drawn from his real experiences traveling through the state of Wyoming. If nothing else, the two books are connected by a similar sense of place, yet there nearly similar release dates were timed for one reason only, to coincide with the Jackson Hole Writers Conference, June 27 to 29. Daly will be the guest of honor for one of the conference’s annual events, Invoking Our Muses. That happens 7:15 p.m. Friday at Dancers’ Workshop in studio 3. The event is organized by poet Laurie Kutchins, who is one of Daly’s mentors.
Daly told us about Invoking Our Muses and more on the heels of his book releases.
