Who I Am

    Greetings to all my new readers. My name is Matt and I called myself a radish poet. Sounds strange, but I do have an explanation for why I chose such a name. Many people are know about the Beats, an amazing group of outcasts who became the voice of their generation through words and music, so as an outcast for the majority of my life, I felt a connection. While I had friends to get me by, I had difficulties expressing myself in public, feeling the weight of society on my with every new gaze. It wasn't until I was in college that I discovered the works Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, William S. Burroughs and a new appreciation for Bob Dylan. 

    The only problem was that the Beat Generation was decades before my time, but fated provided me with something else to call myself in this new age. Radishes are similarly shaped to beets, so just as jack-o-lanterns don't have to be made from pumpkins, I created a new name for the same concept. Everyone has a need to reinvent themselves and as many teachers have told me, the person on paper is very different from who you see in the flesh with little time to get past the peppery defense created by anxiety to discover the sweet and complex nature on what waits inside.

    I've always found fiction writing to be very therapeutic as I could control everything in story so that there was the right amount of darkness to balance out the light, but I find that if I have the right subject, I can unleash a voice for nonfiction. Honed over several open mic nights at my local bookstore, I discovered that by using the alphabet, I could create tender poems for those who have brightened my days. All I do is take the first letter of the subject's name and go either forwards or backwards until all twenty-six letters have been used with an occasional 'X' word being dropped. I call such pieces Alphabet Stew they're easy to digest while still being quite hardy. I've received standing ovations and tears from those I've written for and I hope that I'll find more fans of my work.

    If I can get enough support I'd like to publish what really gets people thrilled and that would be taking the song titles of artists I enjoy and make a long poem out of them. While not every title makes it in, there are still plenty of nuggets to be found. I only use the song titles and not the full lyrics, but I don't know if I need greater consent for publication, although I can disguise the original artists to be a parody to avoid trouble. An interesting thing that can be said about these poems is that they sound like a religious sermon if that perks anyone's curiosity.

    Please enjoy what I post and keep an eye out for more works and a little artwork.