Acclaimed poet to bring eclectic works to UP
Matthew Dickman talks to The Beacon about poetry, Catholic school and the silver screen
Lauren Seynhaeve
Issue date: 2/4/10 Section: Living
Matthew Dickman, a well-known Portland poet, will do a reading at UP on Feb. 8 in BC 163 at 7:30 p.m. Dickman's poetry is emotionally driven and often focuses on his life growing up in Lents, a rough neighborhood in southeast Portland.
Dickman and his identical twin brother Michael, also an acclaimed poet, have won numerous prizes and held a number of fellowships. Matthew's first manuscript was published by the American Poetry Review as a reward for winning first prize in the A.P.P/Honickman competition. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, Poets and Writers and Tin House, among other publications.
The Dickman twins have also done a bit of acting - they were the male precogs in "Minority Report." Matthew provides a little insight into his work.
What sparked your intense interest in writing and reading poetry? Several of your family members are poets, but was there a specific poet or time in your life that got you truly interested in writing yourself?
I first became interested in poetry when I was a sophomore in high school. I think it was a perfect storm. I was in love with a girl who read poetry, I liked the rap music coming from the East Coast, and a mentor of mine, Ernie Casciato, gave me a notebook and told me to write in it. Anne Sexton was my first poetry crush. But equally influential was Philip Levine and The Beats; Ginsberg, Kerouac, Burroughs. I came from a neighborhood where men didn't write, they didn't share their feelings. So imagining Levine getting off work and instead of hitting his wife, going home to write his magical work poems or The Beats - these men being together, huddled on a corner, instead of jumping someone they were writing poems and getting high. I thought this was otherworldly and special.
Having attended several private Catholic schools, do you feel any attachment to them? How do you think your primary education has influenced your life/your work?
I was lucky to attend private schools. Though even in Catholic schools students have to attend to certain kinds of violence and indignities, it would have been a rougher path if I went to the public school in my district. I was also lucky to have teachers who were interested in inquiry and thoughtfulness beyond strict dogma. They were brave enough to explore their faith, even question the laws sent from Rome, and because of that they were deeply spiritual and great examples of the universality that Catholicism can be. This primary education taught me to be interested in, as well as to celebrate, the mystery of life if not simply the mystery of Christ.
Dickman and his identical twin brother Michael, also an acclaimed poet, have won numerous prizes and held a number of fellowships. Matthew's first manuscript was published by the American Poetry Review as a reward for winning first prize in the A.P.P/Honickman competition. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, Poets and Writers and Tin House, among other publications.
The Dickman twins have also done a bit of acting - they were the male precogs in "Minority Report." Matthew provides a little insight into his work.
What sparked your intense interest in writing and reading poetry? Several of your family members are poets, but was there a specific poet or time in your life that got you truly interested in writing yourself?
I first became interested in poetry when I was a sophomore in high school. I think it was a perfect storm. I was in love with a girl who read poetry, I liked the rap music coming from the East Coast, and a mentor of mine, Ernie Casciato, gave me a notebook and told me to write in it. Anne Sexton was my first poetry crush. But equally influential was Philip Levine and The Beats; Ginsberg, Kerouac, Burroughs. I came from a neighborhood where men didn't write, they didn't share their feelings. So imagining Levine getting off work and instead of hitting his wife, going home to write his magical work poems or The Beats - these men being together, huddled on a corner, instead of jumping someone they were writing poems and getting high. I thought this was otherworldly and special.
Having attended several private Catholic schools, do you feel any attachment to them? How do you think your primary education has influenced your life/your work?
I was lucky to attend private schools. Though even in Catholic schools students have to attend to certain kinds of violence and indignities, it would have been a rougher path if I went to the public school in my district. I was also lucky to have teachers who were interested in inquiry and thoughtfulness beyond strict dogma. They were brave enough to explore their faith, even question the laws sent from Rome, and because of that they were deeply spiritual and great examples of the universality that Catholicism can be. This primary education taught me to be interested in, as well as to celebrate, the mystery of life if not simply the mystery of Christ.
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