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"Rohrer has an enchanting willingness to look outward, a willingness not to grasp the world using old means which have failed us, even if no new means present themselves ready-made."—Judges' citation, the 2005 International Griffin Poetry Prize
Griffin Poetry Prize finalist Matthew Rohrer illuminates the modern plight: trying to figure out how to be a thoughtful citizen, parent, and person as the landscape of terror and history worms its way into our everyday existence. Unnervingly humorous, casual, and tender, Rohrer's poems help us investigate our lives as he investigates his—openly and with a generous presence.
From "Dull Affairs":
How am I to concentrate
on the heavy and dull
affairs of state
with the sound of a baby having a dream
in the other room
Matthew Rohrer is the author of five previous books of poetry, including A Plate of Chicken, Rise Up, Satellite, and A Green Light, which was shortlisted for the 2005 Griffin Poetry Prize. He is also co-author of Nice Hat. Thanks. with Joshua Beckman, with whom he has participated in performances at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and the Henry Art Gallery in Seattle. He received the Pushcart Prize and his first book, A Hummock in the Malookas, was selected for the National Poetry Series by Mary Oliver. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, and teaches at New York University.
"...written with such tender affection–for people, for places, for the very ability to feel & think–that each poem feels weighted with equal parts nostalgia & hope." —Nate Pritts, Coldfront
"VERDICT: Griffin Poetry prize finalist Rohrer is upcoming, and rightly so. Anyone committed to contemporary poetry should read." —Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal
"Rohrer’s new collection “Destroyer and Preserver’’ finds him struggling to synthesize his multiple selves: He’s a father, a husband, a poet, an American, and a man with “a heart/ it is too big for my clothes." —Michael Brodeur, Boston Globe
"[Rohrer's] angular, juxtaposition-based approach to narrative and his commitment to the quotidian—the everyday-made-new—show his interest in New York School poetics." —Michael Flatt, New Pages
His poems have been widely anthologized and have appeared in many journals. He’s received the Hopwood Award for poetry and a Pushcart prize. A Hummock in the Malookas was selected for the National Poetry Series, and A Green Light was shortlisted for the Griffin International Poetry Prize. Recently he has participated in residencies/performances at the Museum of Modern Art (New York City) and the Henry Art Gallery (Seattle).
Matthew Rohrer was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, was raised in Oklahoma, and attended universities in Ann Arbor, Dublin, Ireland and Iowa City. He teaches in the creative writing program at NYU and lives in Brooklyn.
What Is More Distracting Than Clouds
Poets With History/Poets Without History
Ghost
Marque Número Dos
Dull Affairs
They Pull a Suicide from the Water
The Smell of Frying Fish
Poem for Music’s Distractions
Poem for Starlings
Believe
Casualties
My Vote
Two Hours of Crying
Rodina
For Which I Love You
At the Deux Magots
Inside Out
Poem with the Title at the End
Skyward
The Terrorists
Display Case of Steak
Drinking with Your Brother
Poem for Mideast Peace
Poem for My Thirties
Enough with Abstraction
Where the Hawk Pauses
New Mexico
A Sunny Lunch
Flowers
Poem on the Occasion of the Midterm Election
Pie
Diptych
Poem for Asthma
Poem for the Wind
Mary Wollstonecraft Traveling with Her Kids
Poem for German Heritage
Not Questions
Goodmorning
Red Flowers
Wu Wei