https://www.matsonpoet.com/publications daily 0.75 2026-05-22 https://www.matsonpoet.com/publications/Blog Post Title One-3zaa9-zlxng-y6b29-dmffn monthly 0.5 2026-05-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69f3e02911d6953e23f0b496/b9433383-8af6-4837-a310-60074fefcdd2/Book+Cover%3A+Hello%2C+Paradise.+Paradise%2C+Goodbye.png Publications - Hello, Paradise. Paradise, Goodbye. Born on a backpacking trip into the Sierras, Hello, Paradise. Paradise, Goodbye descries the degradation of our planet and the failures of compassion, using a collage of voices erupting into eco-apocalyptic symphony. The author was cognizant, as a mineral collector, that the Western culture template for this destruction was palpable in his chest. His pack contained forty pounds of iron tools for collecting crystals. He instead brought out his notebook and began the poem. The structure of city buildings, the degradation of our planet, injustices in social order, the global economy, and widespread lack of compassion. These aspects of Western culture are bringing the planet and all life rapidly toward disaster. Everyone knows this. Yet this planet is paradise. We feel grief and guilt at the destruction, and these emotions are largely unacknowledged. The thread of guilt and the disordered use of our planet runs through all aspects of society. The poet follows this thread through the healthcare industry, the military, the food industry, agriculture and cattle farming, government, advertising, big pharma, the influence of the rich, and our personal relationships. Hello, Paradise. Paradise, Goodbye is a passionate listing of both our guilt and our wishes for paradise. This is a call to observe reality. Once we accept the depth of our feeling, this is a call to action. https://www.matsonpoet.com/publications/crazy-child monthly 0.5 2026-05-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69f3e02911d6953e23f0b496/1777758394222-6XUT0VMVLT1R4FEN6VC3/Let+the+Crazy+Child+Write.webp Publications - Let the Crazy Child Write! Let the Crazy Child Write! grew out of hundreds of creative writing workshops that Clive Matson has led during his career as poet and writer. Here he guides readers—as individuals or in groups — through twelve seminars designed to overcome inhibitions, locate hidden originality, and find a true creative writing voice. Let the Crazy Child Write! links the playful energy of the creative unconscious—essential to strong writing—to a solid, in-depth course of writing basics: Image Detail, Slow Motion, Hook, Persona Writing, Point of View, Dialogue, Plot, Narrative Presence, Good Clichés, Character, Surrealism, and Resolution. It is a comprehensive, hands-on—and fun—working seminar that will help both novices and professionals improve their writing abilities and unleash their creativity. https://www.matsonpoet.com/publications/blog-post-title-three-y3peb-4lwnz-2cfea monthly 0.5 2026-05-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69f3e02911d6953e23f0b496/e0b9a766-55ca-40b8-8a33-710ae84665f9/Book_Squish+Boots+Cover.png Publications - Squish Boots Open this book and fall into a tumultuous world where each act sings, shouts, and cries the full chorus of the unconscious. Matson uses kaleidoscopic images that infiltrate our workday defenses and invite our deepest feelings and truths to surface. A roller coaster ride with an old sage/young boy, hair streaming white, knuckles clenched, eyes closed, laughing. When you open those eyes, what do you see? Squish Boots emerged from Clive Matson's own teaching practice and the "Crazy Child" exercise at the heart of his creative writing method. Cover graphic by William Blake. Broken Shadow Publications, Oakland, California, 2002. https://www.matsonpoet.com/publications/an-eye-for-an-eye-makes-the-whole-world-blind monthly 0.5 2026-05-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69f3e02911d6953e23f0b496/35c31a69-d955-4e1b-9033-87a3cb74e690/Book+Cover_An+Eye+for+an+Eye.png Publications - An Eye for an Eye Makes the Whole World Blind - Make it stand out An Eye For An Eye Makes The Whole World Blind features poems by over 100 poets from all over The United States of America. This important book creates an alternative poetic response to the din of collective madness that has characterized our national dialogue since 9/11/2001. Upon reading these poems written by so many diverse poets one sees a deepening of perception, of renewed seriousness about the human predicament and about the necessity to evolve into our full humanity. The writers hope the poems will help readers feel more deeply, think about our common future, and ultimately act to achieve a more peaceful and just world. Poets include: Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Diane di Prima, Robert Creeley, Opal Palmer Adisa, Robert Pinsky, Michael McClure, devorah major, Nellie Wong, Jack Hirschman, David Meltzer, Neeli Cherkovski, Lyn Lifshin, Antler, John Sinclair, Allen Cohen, Clive Matson, Al Young, Steve Kowit, Gerald Nicosia, Q.R. Hand, Ira Cohen, Julia Vinograd, Jack Foley, Janine Pommy Vega, A.D. Winans, Shepherd Bliss, S.A. Griffin, Coleman Barks, Claire Burch, Gail Ford, Charles Pappas, and many more. https://www.matsonpoet.com/publications/chalcedonys-first-ten-songs monthly 0.5 2026-05-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69f3e02911d6953e23f0b496/1779139209704-WE6YF766DL2JPV8H4NQB/Book+Cover%3A+Chalcedony%27s+First+Ten+Songs Publications - Chalcedony’s First Ten Songs “Chalcedony is a character in one of my unfinished stories. She loves her boyfriend with startling intensity, and she has big problems with him, too. She began writing songs in April, 2004, and put pressure on me to get her words on paper. I followed her bidding. This became an intriguing adventure, though it felt odd to be writing someone else's words. Many of Chalcedony's lines came across as placeholders for more involved thoughts. Journeying into the songs one enters a fluid and energetic universe I didn't know exists. Does this place emerge from a deepening relationship with my anima? If so, one wonders if a similar universe exists for everyone. The poems do seem to express more and more of what something, maybe my body, holds dear. At times I'll act purely on knowledge of the poems, because they feel more compelling than so-called reality. Chalcedony's world seems more interesting, more powerful, and, ultimately, more real. Chalcedony has written more than fifty songs. These are her first ten…” https://www.matsonpoet.com/publications/chalcedonys-second-ten-songs monthly 0.5 2026-05-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69f3e02911d6953e23f0b496/1779139205095-MY2FJDQN4DWO1IK5JSAW/Book%252BCover_Calcedony%252527s%252BSecond%252BTen%252BSongs.png Publications - Chalcedony’s Second Ten Songs In mythology chalcedony (pronounced kal-SAID- n-knee) is a moonstone of the feminine, of the subconscious, of the dark, of the bright silver cold light of knowing. Indeed, Chalcedony is a woman, the name of a character in one of Matson’s unfinished short stories. Her poems are a vibrant call to body and spirit and earth through the sensory world. In Chalcedony’s Second Ten Songs the poet broadens the exultant, erotic outburst of her first chapbook. She adds existentialism, science, and attitude to these new conversations with her lover or rather, to these new rants. Chalcedony has no doubt he needs a lot of educating! She affirms her sacred and essential connection to emotion, and this connection extends, at every turn, to earth, myths, pagan life, love, and death. How else do we know we re human? Chalcedony believes we are boundlessly in love, all of us, and the calmer way we live is illusion safe, cloying illusion. She melds her devil-may-care range of language with that of Shakespeare and the direct expression of classical Greek poets. She invites the reader to become a wild, sensual creature like herself, full of delight and full of fire. Chalcedony encourages us to feel our feelings with abandon. https://www.matsonpoet.com/publications/blog-post-title-four-lr658-tcthp-565ax monthly 0.5 2026-05-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69f3e02911d6953e23f0b496/7a81ee18-cb48-4291-a7a1-ac4a8dc1275b/Book+cover_Mainline+to+the+Heart.png Publications - Mainline to the Heart https://www.matsonpoet.com/publications/hour-glass monthly 0.5 2026-05-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69f3e02911d6953e23f0b496/1777835147002-4U5EZ5RR3VJ4B1S3HB9K/Book+Cover_Hourglass+.png Publications - Hourglass https://www.matsonpoet.com/publications/space-age monthly 0.5 2026-05-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69f3e02911d6953e23f0b496/37e7807c-9787-4dfd-8683-da388c1e6053/Book+Cover_Space+Age.png Publications - Space Age https://www.matsonpoet.com/publications/heroine monthly 0.5 2026-05-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69f3e02911d6953e23f0b496/72fdff1a-8c07-4627-9fde-57aea0a9a26a/Book+Cover_Heroine.png Publications - Heroin https://www.matsonpoet.com/publications/on-the-inside monthly 0.5 2026-05-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69f3e02911d6953e23f0b496/0d4ad6e8-9e6b-4b13-956b-0e63397cb187/Book+Cover_On+the+Inside.png Publications - On the Inside https://www.matsonpoet.com/publications/equal-in-desire monthly 0.5 2026-05-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69f3e02911d6953e23f0b496/5fb03cc8-28c7-4ad6-9bc1-3d1343d17d8b/Book+Cover_Equal+in+Desire.png Publications - Equal in Desire https://www.matsonpoet.com/home daily 1.0 2026-05-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69f3e02911d6953e23f0b496/1777838666905-A8P9489AXKUEPQ9D4YQ0/unsplash-image-omeaHbEFlN4.jpg Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69f3e02911d6953e23f0b496/1777838685427-YZYFKH3V17PGKGKZJC8W/unsplash-image-udj2tD3WKsY.jpg Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69f3e02911d6953e23f0b496/1779145637978-XNT66KR97XYAV4P6MV65/unsplash-image-L8oEIAZ59_g.jpg Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69f3e02911d6953e23f0b496/6c47f52d-a041-4772-8b2c-98b2bed8ecee/images.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69f3e02911d6953e23f0b496/81e415d9-0a15-4ae3-95d1-73463d853b3f/download+%282%29.jpeg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69f3e02911d6953e23f0b496/4ed6b09b-5f42-42fd-b382-6c8f68a5cbaa/PenOaklandLogo.webp https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69f3e02911d6953e23f0b496/a6371b1a-4a1d-40cb-a021-c49d75d1b8f9/download+%281%29.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69f3e02911d6953e23f0b496/a086daa3-7307-481f-8714-f5969df36ecc/download.jpeg https://www.matsonpoet.com/biography daily 0.75 2026-05-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69f3e02911d6953e23f0b496/111af05d-a6ed-4a0a-93c0-728dac6e0185/Clive+headshot+costa+rica.jpg https://www.matsonpoet.com/media-events daily 0.75 2026-05-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69f3e02911d6953e23f0b496/2ae81eaf-9fb6-4376-91b0-9a5fab1c21a9/Clive%27s+hands.jpg https://www.matsonpoet.com/classes daily 0.75 2026-05-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69f3e02911d6953e23f0b496/1777767262837-VL71BIUCAXGLFMYU6DJU/Writing+class+in+session.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69f3e02911d6953e23f0b496/1777767148508-260YJUB1E2KK3GYGL15U/unsplash-image-q0MSEVq7JMo.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69f3e02911d6953e23f0b496/aaf33015-8a9c-45a8-96ef-c87473fa15bb/Friends+drinking%2C+cheers.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69f3e02911d6953e23f0b496/1779145346707-AESMX6T0CC6ATN65XNL0/busy+woman+with+two+kids.jpg