POET BROOKE MATSON | Karen Mobley
Brooke Matson
Artist Trust GAP Grant Recipient
ODE TO AN ORCA , ODE TO THE DEEP
The dorsal fin tears the sun along the water and arcs toward us .
A calf , our guide says .
The ocean rolls beneath us like a sheet on a wind , lifting our kayaks .
I have rowed between these islands to escape my grief . Like a child , I wanted to discover my own island — remote and unscarred .
I have dreams — ancient , childhood dreams of dark water , terrified of what shapes moved below me , unseen .
It takes a breath
not a hundred feet from us , rolls onto its belly , then plunges under , smacking its black tail before vanishing into the deep .
Take me under .
KAREN MOBLEY
I don ’ t want to be this animal anymore — bound by loss and other laws . Take me under .
I smack my paddle on the water , mimicking its tail , and watch the surface absorb the blow .
LEARN MORE ABOUT BROOKE MATSON & SPARK CENTRAL AT :
WWW . SPARKWESTCENTRAL . ORG WWW . BROOKEMATSON . COM
Brooke Matson is one of the most visible faces in Spokane poetry today . If you visit Spokane ’ s Spark Central at 1214 W Summit Pkwy , Spokane , you most likely see her where she serves as Executive Director . She is a recent Artist Trust GAP Grant recipient and will also participate in a residency at Centrum as a part of her recognition by Artist Trust . Her poems have been published , most recently in CALYX . Her book , The Moons , was published by Blue Begonia Press . She is working on a new manuscript called Impossible Things . She says , “ Impossible Things is an interrogation of physical matter through poetry . Science and physics are obsessions right now .”
She has been actively writing poetry since high school and bringing work to our community through readings and events . About her beginnings , Brooke said , “ I started writing poetry and stories when I was a young child . One of my first book purchases in elementary school was a rhyming dictionary , in fact , which I used to write a poem about a deer that didn ’ t listen to its mother and ended up getting eaten by a lion ! In high school , I had an English teacher who was very , very interested in poetry and taught me to love the Zen it could invoke — an experience of being in the moment . My senior year of high school was the beginning of a steady stream of poetry .”
At Spark Central , Brooke works to engage others in writing and reading . When she was asked about how to get started with poetry , Brooke said , “ Bruce Holbert once described poetry as jumping into a river , and I think that ’ s not far from the truth . A good poem is a real visceral experience — it moves you , and your brain reacts chemically to the words and their sound . Poetry was meant to be heard ; hearing it brings us closer to the physical experience . To engage with poetry , I like to read it aloud to myself — in fact , when I ’ ve had an upsetting day , I pace and read poetry from a favorite poet aloud . I ’ m sure I look like a crazy person , but the music and meaning of it calms me down .”
“ When I want students to engage with poetry , we read it aloud theatrically and then explore connotations and reactions until we come to a common understanding of the poem . Nothing burns me up inside like a poetry lesson where poems are treated like math formulas with only one real solution . Poems are mystical — even holy , I think — and every person ’ s experience of a poem is slightly unique thanks to individual brain architecture and memory ; teachers should always take that into account . Some poems hit like a punch . Some make us tear up . Some are downright
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