Matthew Hittinger's Blog, page 3

2019 Xmas Card Print

Decided to feature some year-round ornaments I leave out on some branches that have twinkle lights built into them. There’s a fox, an owl, a whale, and cardinal, and a tiny penguin.

Alumni Achievement Award

Last night I was honored with an Alumni Achievement Award from Muhlenberg College, where I did my undergraduate work.

When I received word back in the spring that I was receiving this award, my first thought was “Is this premature? I still have so much I want to do.” 

Perhaps that’s the fate of the perfectionist—there’s always more to do, work done is never quite up to the ambitious standards we set. We’re also not ones to rest on our laurels, so too often we forget to pause and take stock of what we have done and accomplished.

So thank you to those that nominated me and the deciding committee; receiving this has given me occasion to pause and reflect on my creative journey so far, and given me a much needed vote of confidence to get back to work and finish my next book.

Like I said, I still have so much I want to do. And this reminds me I’m on the right track.

Some photos from the evening:

Evening of Distinction

Reprint of “Stendhal Syndrome / Nude Study” at The Ekphrastic Review

My poem “Stendhal Syndrome / Nudy Study” has been reprinted at The Ekphrastic Review. It was originally published at The Offending Adam in 2011 and is in conversation with John Singer Sargent’s oil on canvas Nude Study of Thomas E. McKeller (1917-20).

Nude Study of Thomas E. McKellar, by John Singer Sargent (USA) 1917-1920.

Phineas & Finn

A little study based on my desk buddies, Phineas (the squirrel) and Finn (the fish). Maybe they need their own little comic, The Adventures of Phin & Finn!

2018 Xmas Card Print

An army of letter M snowflakes. This year’s Xmas card.

View this post on Instagram

Printing this year’s holiday cards. #printmaking #proudliberalsnowflake

A post shared by Matthew Hittinger (@mightthreatenwit) on Nov 25, 2018 at 6:45am PST

Four Poems and Two Prints in Crazyhorse

I have four poems–“Poetics of the Parentheses,” “Monarch Migraine,” “Mechaphemera,” and “From At the Museum of the Moving Image (Model Magic)”–in the latest issue (#92, Fall 2017) of Crazyhorse. The middle two are accompanied by two of my lino prints. Enjoy!

2017 Xmas Card Print

Dug into some personal history for this year’s Xmas card; I played the French horn from the 4th grade through high school. I was pretty good, too!

Review of The Masque of Marilyn in the Washington Independent Review of Books

Grave Cavalieri offered this insightful review of The Masque of Marilyn in the latest Washington Independent Review of Books:

“Who doesn’t care about Marilyn Monroe; and how many Marilyn’s are there? The answer is as many as there are writers invoking her. Hittinger is known for his ability to combine myth, pop culture and philosophy — and these come nicely together in this latest book. He uses a wide-angle lens. His Marilyn is once presented as an 80-year-old taking a sitz bath; and there’s a fabulous experimental poem, “Marilyn Monroe and Marianne Moore Monitor the Periodic Table of Monikers.” Elsewhere she cooks — preparing a “stuffing recipe.” “Em Dash” is a poem where the epigraph reads Marilyn rehearses a scene from Eugene O’Neill’s Anna Christie to the rodents of Central Park, 1955. You say whaat? I say read it. This poet does not need narrative to tell story. He comes at situation by way of tone, pointillism, and emotion. His individual strength is that he can make each poem a showstopper like the icon herself. Hittinger raises questions instead of making pronouncements — and as idiosyncratic as fame is, he gets that; and uses it as his template, always shape-shifting what Marilyn appears to be, seen through a poet’s Kaleidoscope. She becomes spontaneously a result of perception. This is done by using inventive measures on the page; then at times approaching Monroe from others’ eyes (Marlene Dietrich, Mae West, etc.), Marilyn Monroe is the subject here, but the book’s author is the star because of his epitomized poetics.”

Review of The Masque of Marilyn in the San Francisco Review of Books

Grady Harp reviews The Masque of Marilyn in the San Francisco Review of Books:

“The New York poet Matthew Hittinger is now in that realm of `important poets of our time’. The publications of his poems increases every year and his works appear in important poetry collections of the highest order. One reason for Hittinger’s ever growing popularity is the fact that he experiments with new visual presentations of his words as well as exploring new avenues of thought – fantasies admixed with reality, humanistic themes married to mythological tradition, re-visiting dead poets and artists and finding new pathways to make them come alive in the present time. THE MASQUE OF MARILYN, the title of this newest collection published by GOSS183 Publishing House, graced with cover art by Matthew and Didi Menendez, is a collage of poems that addresses Marilyn Monroe, but not biographically – rather the influence the goddess of Hollywood created. Or as the poet’s description states, ‘through poems, dream logs, and dramatic monologues, these works conjure a kaleidoscopic pageant of voices—from Marlene Dietrich to Mae West, Montgomery Clift to Maila Nurmi to Norma Jean herself—to reimagine the Marilyn Monroe icon.’ And as Hittinger continues to grow and enjoy wide publication in many journals and anthologies his sophistication of the manner in which he honors words as thoughts grows. His other books include THE EROTIC POSTULATE, SKIN SHIFT, PEAR SLIP, and NARCISSUS RESISTS. […] Attempting to share the magic of Matthew’s superlative book with a single work is like plucking off one pearl from a strand – without the whole strand the spheres are just beads. Read him cover to cover and re-discover Marilyn Monroe.”

 

 

Featured on The Poet and The Poem from The Library of Congress

I was honored to be invited on The Poet and The Poem, Grace Cavalieri’s long-running program from The Library of Congress. I opened with a poem from Skin Shift and then we turned to The Masque of Marilyn and other topics, closing with a poem from The Erotic Postulate.

You can listen here:

Enjoy!