Tag Archives: matthew haughton

“Cherry Wood (The Making of Birds)” by Matthew Haughton

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for my Brother

His wife chose
a cherry wood
box to hold
him,
like a poem
holds a stray
bird.
Balanced as
a feather,
the making
of a bird
is difficult –
given a handful
of Springs.
The throat
opens,
the bones
hollow,
I still hear
the voice
of his wing.

–Matthew Haughton,
Bee-coursing Box
Accents Publishing

Matthew HaughtonMatthew Haughton was born in Colorado in 1977. At an early age, his family returned to eastern Kentucky, where his lineage stretches back over a century in the region. Matthew is a graduate of the University of Kentucky. Most recently, he was a finalist in the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning’s Next Great Writer Competition. His poetry has appeared in literary magazines such as Kentucky Monthly, Still: The Journal, and The Heartland Review. This is his first published collection of poems. He lives and works as an artist and educator in Lexington Kentucky.

“In the Maker’s Image” by Matthew Haughton

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Bigger Than They ApearWithered hand turns
a knife,
slice and peeling
an onion.
Lumps of flesh
unravel round
man and maker;
the leaves of an onion.

–Matthew Haughton,
Bigger Than They Appear:
Anthology of Very Short Poems
(Accents Publishing)

Matthew Haughton has published one chapbook, Bee-coursing Box (Accents Publishing), and one full-length, Stand in the Stillness of Woods (Wordtech Editions). His work has appeared in many journals and magazines. Haughton lives in Lexington, Kentucky.

Bigger Than They Appear Reading summary (Part 3)

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In 2012, the Lexington Public Library recorded and produced a reading held at the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning. This event featured readings from Bigger Than They Appear: Anthology of Very Short Poems.

For the full list of videos, click here.

The poets were asked to read one of their poems as well as someone else’s. Below are the poets, the time stamp where they appear in the video, and the poems they read. The emcee is Katerina Stoykova-Klemer. Continue reading →

“Tracking Seeds” by Matthew Haughton

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i. Tree Latches

The latches come down
the hill,
each falling separate
from the other,
spindled among
the breeze-born.
The life of a latch
is to be seeded
back in the earth,
light as a thumb
slipped half-under
running creek water.
And this is paradise,
this spilling
of seeds downhill.
Under the amber-light,
the calm birthing –
the gust and scatter
where the latches fall.

ii. Whirlybirds

Little pink
fans
spill from
the tree
limbs,
gathering
below,
like tornoff
mosquito
wings,
like motes
passing
windowpanes.

iii. Hitchhikers

Out of branches,
the hitchhikers
sail into the
grass.
Steady as fishhooks,
they remain
stillborn,
waiting
to seed
their sense
of resurrection
off the backs
of passing beasts.

–Matthew Haughton,
Bee-coursing Box
Accents Publishing

Matthew HaughtonMatthew Haughton was born in Colorado in 1977. At an early age, his family returned to eastern Kentucky, where his lineage stretches back over a century in the region. Matthew is a graduate of the University of Kentucky. Most recently, he was a finalist in the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning’s Next Great Writer Competition. His poetry has appeared in literary magazines such as Kentucky Monthly, Still: The Journal, and The Heartland Review. This is his first published collection of poems. He lives and works as an artist and educator in Lexington Kentucky.

“The Heart is Not a Creator” by Yordan Efftimov

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Poet Matthew Haughton reads “The Heart is not a Creator” by Yordan Efftimov, as translated from the Bulgarian by Katerina Stoykova-Klemer. This was filmed at the Morris book shop for Accents Publishing’s official release reading for The Season of Delicate Hunger: Anthology of Contemporary Bulgarian Poetry.

Yordan EfftimovYordan Efftimov was born on January 23rd, 1971 in Razgrad. He holds a Ph.D. in Bulgarian literature from St. Kliment Ohridski University. He teaches theory of literature in New Bulgarian University in Sofia. Yordan has worked as an editor and columnist, and has hosted radio and television literary programs. He is the author of eight books of poetry, most recently The Heart is Not a Creator (2013), along with five monographs and two textbooks on modern and ancient literature. He lives and works in Sofia.

Matthew HaughtonMatthew Haughton was born in Colorado in 1977. At an early age, his family returned to eastern Kentucky, where his lineage stretches back over a century in the region. Matthew is a graduate of the University of Kentucky. Most recently, he was a finalist in the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning’s Next Great Writer Competition. His poetry has appeared in literary magazines such as Kentucky Monthly, Still: The Journal, and The Heartland Review. This is his first published collection of poems. He lives and works as an artist and educator in Lexington Kentucky.

“Nesting” by Matthew Haughton

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Bee-Coursing Box

This is the Living’s work.
A chickadee
takes a bit of twig
up in his beak.
The feathers on his head
are wet, like jagged
points on a crown.
I watch him, involved
in his art of nesting.
He comes to this craft
after rain, wind
tossed his lover’s nest.
He goes about building
it back again;
stitching strands
into hailstones,
weaving his time
in the world
out of carried threads.
The Living’s work comes
easily to him –
easily as a hand to a pen.

–Matthew Haughton,
Bee-coursing Box
Accents Publishing

Matthew HaughtonMatthew Haughton was born in Colorado in 1977. At an early age, his family returned to eastern Kentucky, where his lineage stretches back over a century in the region. Matthew is a graduate of the University of Kentucky. Most recently, he was a finalist in the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning’s Next Great Writer Competition. His poetry has appeared in literary magazines such as Kentucky Monthly, Still: The Journal, and The Heartland Review. This is his first published collection of poems. He lives and works as an artist and educator in Lexington Kentucky.

“Deer Tongue” by Matthew Haughton

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Bee-Coursing BoxCrushed leaves
make smoke,
the senses
snap,
burning
on each
inhale.
Smoke pours
in thin
violet
streaks,
like deer
tongue
flicking
clover leaf.
Smoke, then
silence,
down
to an ash.

–Matthew Haughton,
Bee-coursing Box
Accents Publishing

More from Bee-Coursing Box and Matthew Haughton:

Matthew HaughtonMatthew Haughton was born in Colorado in 1977. At an early age, his family returned to eastern Kentucky, where his lineage stretches back over a century in the region. Matthew is a graduate of the University of Kentucky. Most recently, he was a finalist in the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning’s Next Great Writer Competition. His poetry has appeared in literary magazines such as Kentucky Monthly, Still: The Journal, and The Heartland Review. This is his first published collection of poems. He lives and works as an artist and educator in Lexington Kentucky.

“Bee-Coursing Box” by Matthew Haughton

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The original trailer for Matthew Haughton’s Bee-Coursing Box from 2011.

More from Bee-Coursing Box and Matthew Haughton:

Matthew HaughtonMatthew Haughton was born in Colorado in 1977. At an early age, his family returned to eastern Kentucky, where his lineage stretches back over a century in the region. Matthew is a graduate of the University of Kentucky. Most recently, he was a finalist in the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning’s Next Great Writer Competition. His poetry has appeared in literary magazines such as Kentucky Monthly, Still: The Journal, and The Heartland Review. This is his first published collection of poems. He lives and works as an artist and educator in Lexington Kentucky.

“Merit in the Life of Carpentry” by Matthew Haughton

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Bee-Coursing BoxYou spend your life
perfecting the form
you make for a chair.
The chosen wood,
sturdy for sitting
by the window
in the spare room.
You rest your eyes
on the bedpost
and remember
working out each
ridge and slope,
like sense memory
of every lover’s
body, ingrained.
The quiet space
of your mind
comes alive each
time you hear
warblers sing
from the perch
you measured
out in the width
of your finger,
pencil tucked
behind your ear.
You listen to this
music, splitting
wood open –
like pulling wedges
out of an orange,
perfecting the form.

–Matthew Haughton,
Bee-coursing Box
Accents Publishing

More from Bee-Coursing Box and Matthew Haughton:

Matthew HaughtonMatthew Haughton was born in Colorado in 1977. At an early age, his family returned to eastern Kentucky, where his lineage stretches back over a century in the region. Matthew is a graduate of the University of Kentucky. Most recently, he was a finalist in the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning’s Next Great Writer Competition. His poetry has appeared in literary magazines such as Kentucky Monthly, Still: The Journal, and The Heartland Review. This is his first published collection of poems. He lives and works as an artist and educator in Lexington Kentucky.

“Starlings” by Matthew Haughton

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Bigger Than They AppearNefarious, they never seem
to travel alone—
only in packs
as if seeded by stars,
conceived the night before.

–Matthew Haughton,
Bigger than They Appear (2011)

“What a cache of treasures this collection is, what a cache of jewels. […] All are reminders of what the best, briefest poems can do: give back the world to us, as it passes, in the mirror of a few well-chosen words.”

-Cecilia Woloch

Matthew HaughtonMatthew Haughton was born in Colorado in 1977. At an early age, his family returned to eastern Kentucky, where his lineage stretches back over a century in the region. Matthew is a graduate of the University of Kentucky. His poetry has appeared in literary magazines such as Kentucky Monthly, Still: The Journal, and The Heartland Review. Bee-Coursing Box was his first published collection of poems. He lives and works as an artist and educator in Lexington Kentucky.