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Working Progress, Working Title: Automystifstical Plaice (Salt Modern Poets S.)

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The categories listed in the "search for books by similar subject" section below make it seem as if this were a book about creative writing, or linguistics, or fiction. It is, in fact, a book of poetry. It contains two of John Matthias' long poems. First is "Automystifstical Place," which involves Heddy Lamarr, a radio-guided torpedo design, and the composer George Antheil. As far as I am aware, this poem is not available in any of the other collections of Matthias' works currently in print. The second part of the book is "Pages" which looks at memory and forgetting though the lens of the Alzheimers' suffered by the author's mother. This latter poem cycle also appears in Matthias' recent collection "Pages."

As for the work itself, I must admit a conflict of interest here because John Matthias was one of my poetry professors several years ago. I like his work, and I think this book is worth having. His poetry is not the easiest in the world to read or understand, but any effort put into it is rewarded.