December 10, 2009

Jeff Lair grew up in the islands of American Samoa and Hawaii before his wanderlust-afflicted Minnesota-born parents settled in Oregon. He compiled a long directionless and checkered résumé working around the country as carpenter, clerk, delivery driver, T-shirt printer, and (go figure) FEMA inspector. These and other failures end up spun into poems of American irony. Jeff Lair’s poetry is unambiguous and frank while surprising at every turn as he examines the horror and hilarity it is to be an American poet today—poems that laugh and cry and give Death the finger. He has published two illustrated volumes of poetry: Tall Grass (2008) and Bucking and Braying at the Dark Edge (2009).

“Matthew Alan first attracted my attention at the Wired and Unplugged Café in Snohomish where he never missed an open-mic and brought more fresh material than he could read every week. He is quite simply the most courageous poet I have ever met. With unflinching candor Matthew’s poems explore the dynamics of violence in the home, questioning authority, resisting censorship and longing for love. He never gives up the power of the “question” for any cheap answers. He’s like Charles Bukowski in Holden Caulfield’s body; brash but wise beyond his years. He’s 21. I can buy him a beer now without going to jail. He has published a chapbook of poetry, Tomorrow! (2009). He studies short-story and screenplay writing at Cascadia Community College. He was the lead singer for The Morbid Poetics (now defunct). We’re going to hear about Matthew Alan for a long time.” —Jeff Lair