Matthew Hittinger's Blog

Friday I woke to rain and the news that Obama had won the Nobel Peace Prize.  Don't get me wrong, I like Obama, and I understand why they gave it to him not for what he's accomplished (other than not being Bush) but for what he wants to accomplish.  Still, it struck me as a bit odd, especially when so many unknown people do so much on a daily basis to help others and are never acknowledged.  But that's the funny thing: most of those people wouldn't want the recognition, would shy away from...

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I arrived at Penn Station early.  My travel anxiety seems to grow ever more intense the older I get, which continues to baffle me. Once I'm in motion, I'm fine, but that irrational fear of missing a bus or a train or a plane throws my stomach into chaos.  The one thing that seems to calm me is Dramamine which either knocks me out in minutes or makes me float along in a haze.  Too soon for that.

I found a ticket kiosk and scanned my print-out to pick up my tickets.  No reservation.  I used my c...

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Back in August I agreed to fill in for Project Verse weekly judge Dana Guthrie Martin to help judge the final round.  The judges–Dustin Brookshire, Beth Gylys, me and the two guest judges, Denise Duhamel and Shaindel Beers–evaluated the work of the finalists, Kathi Morrison-Taylor and Emily Van Duyne, and we now have a winner.

Click on their names to read their work and our comments, and then click on over to Dustin's site to read the announcement of the winner.

Thanks Dustin for allowing me...

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I've provided the "Celebrity Poet" prompt for the month of October over at Read Write Poem.  It's called "The Poetics of the Mash-Up" and uses two of my unpublished poems "Skin Game" and "The Alchemists Dissolve and Coagulate" to illustrate the concept.

Go check it out!

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I've read some great new books in recent weeks and wanted to highlight some of them.  This post is dedicated to Charlie Jenson's first full-length collection, The First Risk:

The first thing that struck me about the collection is how unified it is, both within each sequence and across each sequence.  The thematic arcs have a lot to do with this, the most obvious perhaps grief, being the survivor, the one left behind after a loved one dies.  We get an exploration of grief from four very...

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Justin Evans at Hobble Creek Review has nominated my poem "In the Shadow City…" for a Pushcart Prize.

Thanks Justin!

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Timothy Wright has reviewed Platos de Sal over at his blog.

Here's a preview:

Hittinger's beautifully clear style of writing suits the way in which the story of David/Juan and Mara/Rut unfolds in a bright but uncertain present full of longing, interspersed with the unclouded memories of the long-ago and more recent past.

Platos de Sal is a beautiful piece. It was a pleasure to read over and again, each time Hittinger's writing revealing more subtleties, more depth.

Click here to read the whole...

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Didi Menendez has finished a new portrait of me:

oil and acrylic on museum wrap canvas 30 by 40 inches

Thanks Didi!

And here's a video she made:

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I had the opportunity and pleasure to see a new show Friday night at the New York Theatre Workshop. It's called Aftermath and is written by Jessica Blank and Eric Jensen who took interviews they conducted in June 2008 with Iraqi refugees in Jordan and crafted them into a show that interweaves the stories of average Iraqi citizens before, during and after the US invasion in March 2003.

Everyone should see this show. I fear few will muster the courage given the heavy subject matter and the fact ...

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A new poem "Sketch and Pentimento" from my Skin Shift project is included in the Self-Portrait issue of the September 2009 Oranges & Sardines.  The issue is packed with lots of great poets: Bob Hicok, Billy Collins, Grace Cavalieri, Andrew Demcak, Denise Duhamel, David Lehman, Marie-Elizabeth Mali, Paul Siegell, Emma Trelles, Nanette Rayman Rivera to start the list.  Not to mention the great paintings and photographs from the visual artists: Fábio Baroli, Alyssa Monks, Jon Damaschke, April...

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