Product Description

Winner of the 2007 Nebraska Book Award for Poetry, Things We Don't Know We Don't Know debuted at #12 on the Poetry Foundation best seller list for contemporary poetry books (May 28th, 2006). Why? Because it's a great read: more entertaining than you'd think a book of poetry should be and more poetic than you'd think an entertaining book can be.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1651782 in Books
• Published on: 2006-03-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 88 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780976523185
• Condition: USED - VERY GOOD
• Notes:
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From the Publisher
"Rebel With a Cause - Matt Mason is a revolutionary. And not just when he's writing about vigorous political outrage (the title of his new collection is from a Donald Rumsfeld quote). Even Mason's poems filled with gentle insight, kindness, humor and grace are small, feisty acts of rebellion - crystallizing a new way of thinking, feeling, behaving." --Michael Burke

"The only thing better than reading these poems is to hear Matt Mason himself read them." --Marjorie Saiser, author of Bones of a Very Fine Hand

"Matt Mason must be declared the poet laureate of the Midwest! No other native son celebrates the overlooked America, its unsung citizens (from the anonymous poets to the part-time English teachers), and its expansive indigenous landscape, as well as he does. Mason's poetry is humorous when he wants to be quirky, heartbreaking when he wants to be eloquent, and though he moves effortlessly into other moods and geographies, he always returns to his first and most enduring love (and to what he knows best)-his homeland." --Rigoberto Gonzalez, author of So Often The Pitcher Goes to Water Before It Breaks and Other Fugitives And Other Strangers

"Although Mason takes his title from Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld's nonclarification of U.S. policy regarding "the war on terror," this exuberant poet helps us to see clearly a cornucopia of things we too often forget we know. Whether turning his attention to kiwifruit, Wild Kingdom's Marlin Perkins, the Strategic Air Command Museum, or lovers who with luck may come to resemble a no-expiration-date snack cake, Mason sheds some of his Nebraskan light on our universally human proceedings. And anyone who can actually say, for the poem-record, "I believe that aliens built the Pyramids, Stonehenge, / and most of my ex-girlfriends" surely knows, by heart, a few more things we only think we may be better off not knowing." --David Clewell, author of Now We're Getting Somewhere and The Low End of Higher Things

About the Author
After earning his MA in Creative Writing from the University of California at Davis, Matt Mason, of course, moved to Omaha where he lives with his wonderful wife Sarah and baby daughter Sophia. He has won 2 Nebraska Book Awards and over 100 magazines and anthologies have published his poems, including Laurel Review, Prairie Schooner, The Morpo Review, the online edition of Mississippi Review and Mark Eleveld's The Spoken Word Revolution Redux. New Michigan Press released his chapbook Mistranslating Neruda in 2003; not to be outdone, Lone Willow Press put out When The Bough Breaks in 2005.

Mason has read poetry everywhere from behind the podiums of the Nebraska Book Festival to the stages of the National Poetry Slam as well as at universities, high schools, libraries, book stores, radio shows, state fairs, art museums, bars, ice cream parlors, and coffee shops across the country, even appearing as the stand-in for Poet Laureate Ted Kooser and Oscar winning director Alexander Payne at rehearsals for the opening of a performing arts center. He was appointed an Admiral in the Great Navy of the State of Nebraska by Governor Mike Johanns in 2004, enjoy donuts, and sometimes do write about cows.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
The Good News

Tell the good news about Jesus

--a bumper sticker I followed for a long time

Jesus lent me ten bucks when I forgot my wallet at lunch.
Sure, he could've ordered a chicken pesto sandwich
and broke it into two full meals, but he's no showoff.
That's what I like about Jesus.

Jesus listens to cool music. If it weren't for Jesus,
I never would have known about Tom Waits
or Ani DiFranco, and I sure wouldn't own any Lyle Lovett CDs.
But Jesus makes a kickass mix tape.

Jesus loves cows,
thinks my poems with cows in them are a hoot
and encourages me
to look at herds of white cows
in a green field
and imagine salvation
is underneath each windmill.

Jesus tells me Pat Robertson's right,
and so is Al Sharpton.
That they're both wrong, too,
but that's not the point.
His point is how God is sewn into every fabric.
Even yourself. Even Elvis.

Jesus saves and Jesus recycles.

Jesus eats fish for more
than Omega-3 fatty acids,
drinks red wine for more reasons
than his sacred heart.

Jesus doesn't dress like the Medieval paintings
with the gold hats and the Mr. T rosaries.
Sure, he can clean up nice,
but Jesus likes blue jeans.

Jesus makes a killer chianti,
but he refuses to turn water
into Diet Coke for me.
"What's the difference?" he asks.

Jesus pisses me off
with his honesty
sometimes.
But it's not like he's ever wrong.

Jesus acts real serious
when somebody rushes up to him hollering, "Jesus,
take me up to Heaven,
I will see you in the Kingdom, Jesus!"
Jesus says they should get their kumbayayas off
by putting on some overalls
and hammering in the morning:
may as well make Heaven bigger,
not just your ego.

Jesus digs the "How does Jesus eat M&M's" joke.
He won't do it at a party, but he did do it once
when just the two of us were watching cartoons.

Jesus wanted me to tell you he loves you.
Jesus also wants you to stop doing that thing.

Jesus tells me I'm saved.
Then he laughs real loud.
I hate it when Jesus does that.

Customer Reviews

There's more to life than just cows
Yes, I admit to being a friend of the author. A friend who does not usually appreciate much modern poetry, to be exact. Yet I've always enjoyed Matt's work. Though he has the rare ability to craft poems which are quirky or sincerely humorous, this book does a great job of showing not only the depth of his heart but also his skill at recognizing often mundane details about the world around us and highlighting them to show just how special a place it is in which we all live.

This is not poetry purely for the sake of the poet but poetry for all of us. For that reason more than any I bought and enjoy this book. I think you should, too.

Midwestern Treasure
Mason follows in the best traditions of poets like Billy Collins and Ted Kooser in using everyday experiences and seemingly innocuous objects to build a deep connection with his reader. Rather than bury his message in thick language and metaphor, he uses a playful and quirky delivery to describe things we all think we know, but in a way that cuts much deeper and sticks with you long after you put the book down.

Things we know we don't know
Matt Mason is one of the best young poets today. His book is sometimes funny, sometimes sad, and always thought provoking.