Matthew Freeman will be one of three featured readers at the next •chance operations• reading at Duff's, 392 N. Euclid, Monday, February 27. Also featured will be Lisa Ebert and Treasure Shields Redmond.
Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; admission is $3.
Musical guest will be Matt Harnish of Bunnygrunt.
Advance sign-up for the open-mic following the featured readers is encouraged. Click here to sign-up via e-mail.
Matthew Freeman has been a poet since he was a teenager in Dogtown, St. Louis. Since then he has fallen in love, traveled the country, and sung his songs. He now lives and writes in the Loop neighborhood of University City, Missouri. The Boulevard of Broken Discourse is his fourth collection of poems. Matthew compiled Flood Stage: An Anthology of St. Louis Poets, a landmark anthology of 55 area poetsMatthew recently received an Albert Montesi Award for his poetry from Saint Louis University.
Critics have high praise for Freeman’s poetry:
“Gritty and real, full of personality (and personalities), urban St. Louis scenery and experience.” —- J. Gordon, Nightimes.comI Know What Girls Know
“Simultaneously hip, funny, and sad.” -— Dorothea Grossman, Poet
“A microscope into the world of an extraordinarily talented schizophrenic.” —- Suzanne Shenkman.
I had to become the ugly friend—
I owed that much to the universe—
and I was desperate for the phone to ring,
and I dreamt all night after an accidental
breast grazed against my elbow in the
crowded lobby of Powell Hall.
I was hated by hipsters for wearing
my frumpy SLU shirt; I was ridiculed
by hippies for trying to remain chirpy
when I was freaking out; I was hunted
by hoosiers for recognizing how bored
and unhappy their wives were.
When I met Lesbia she touched me first;
she took my hand off the steering wheel
and put it on her inner thigh; I thought I’d die.
And when she asked about my model friend
I knew I had to bring this ship to shore --
it was easy, I just pretended
I didn’t really like her anymore.
-- Matt Freeman
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