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Darkness Never Far

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Matt Freeman's Darkness Never Far is a deep and powerful exploration of the experience of mental illness. Matt brings his experience, not only with schtzophrenia but with theorists such as Derrida and Lacan as well, to bear in this collection that, despite its complexity, never loses sight of the poet's obligation to communicate a clear, true message.

I Guess You Call it Clarity

My double would've left behind a kid,
he would've been some type of clear physicist
with clean fingers in front of a stupored class
and a red or black car with a brunette beautiful
from church authentic and into Washington Irving
and silver bracelets smart and creative--the pain--
he would've been calm and quiet in great tweed and musk
walking the clean university halls and
pretty clear concerning the minds of God
his wife would've
let her hair flow witty and wear
intelligent dresses and Flaubert and Christianity
somehow she had also been a Rams cheerleader
in her twenties what, supportive
with great friends and recipes and
poor verses in love with her, my double
would've perceived things a lot more clearly
and enjoyed life more and been proud
when his son walked and not beat him or break windows
his big red or black car and his wife would've
provoked titanic proportions of envy
but he would've remained figurative and calm
and would've had a couple
of drinks at a faculty party
and stole away with a rival's wife
and had sex with her in his red or black car
and the mirrors would've fogged up
though he could still have sensed the quadrangle and awards
and he would've driven home afterwards
to the great professorial house with lots of dark wood
and lame-ass pseudo-literary books all around
but on the way home the
lights would've been completely clear
as he passed the dorms
full of English majors who wanted him
and he would've never done drugs or
been committed to an asylum or drunk tank
he would've been a completely sure Christian
somehow sensing easily right and wrong
and forgiveness in his head but lots of sex
his shoes would've been nice brogues
but clarity and sensations while on sundays
he ran around the track and had
two beers only and listened to Prairie Home Companion
replayed and maybe a football game
he would never have
driven too fast or talked too much
he would've been calm and detested cigarettes
but would he have died?
Well, I guess everyone dies.
But how did he die and what did he see?
He would've left behind some kids and money
a string of affairs and donations and a plaque or two
and so I wonder about all this clarity
and whether he submitted or I submitted and to what
and just who has what power and what continuity
and if everybody contains his opposite
and also, when you get down to it,
what some half-assed physicist ever accomplished,
I mean, even the greatest mathematician at
a state university doesn't rank that high in the world,
probably never contributed anything eternal,
just taught some other half-assed scholars,
got laid a little,
saw things totally clearly,
wrote some clear formulas
on the chalk board for the janitor to erase.

I realize folks rarely choose to go out and purchase a compilation of poetry... but this is a gem worth your time. Freeman simply bears his vulnerable soul to let the reader feel what he has felt. His poems openly address struggles with depression and schizophrenia by using humor and stark seriousness. He is a master!

This book is a wonderful exploration of one man's struggle with love, life, and mental illness. Humorous, dramatic, funny, and sad. These are great poems filled with stirring imagery, raw emotional content, and keen insight. I highly recommend this book.

Darkness Never Far is a truly intense work of poetry. For one thing, as the first poem, "I Guess You Call it Clarity," shows, ths is a poet who does not use words to hide ideas, as is so often the case with modern poetry. Thse poems really communicate. But that just means it's good poetry--it doesn't get at what makes it so specifically interesting and unique. Darkness Never Far is a book of poems that explore how mental illness affects language. These poems show ou how that happens in ways that ideas simply cannot. It's an important work.