Matt Freeman will be one of three featured readers at the debut •chance operations• reading at Tavern of Fine Arts, 313 Belt Avenue, on Monday, September 30.
Also featured will be Eileen G'Sell and Catherine Rankovic.
Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; admission is FREE.
Open-mic will follow the featured readers.
Matthew Freeman woke up to find himself a poet while a still lovelorn teenager in Dogtown, St. Louis. After an irregular journey he found himself back at St. Louis University, where he was twice given the Montesi Award for his poems. His fourth collection, The Boulevard of Broken Discourse, was recently published by Coffeetown Press. Matt teaches at Adapt Missouri, and is proud to be in the MFA program at University of Missouri St. Louis.
I Know What Girls Know
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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