"Matt Mason and Sarah McKinstry-Brown are a grand resource for poetry and poetry lovers. They've created poems than are, by turns, filled with passion and compassion, good humor, wit and wisdom. Beyond the fine qualities of their work on the page, they are genuinely gifted performers, perennial hits with audiences either sophisticated or experiencing their first ever poetry reading. Wonderful poets, they are, not surprisingly, good people – personable, kind and caring. With these two around, I have nothing but confidence in the future of American poetry."
–J. V. Brummels, Coordinator, Plains Writers Series, Wayne State College; and Publisher, Logan
House Press
"Matt Mason and Sarah McKinstry-Brown are a pleasure to work with. Their literary experience, organizational skills, and ability to identify quality local talent made Joslyn Art Museum's College Night Poetry Reading a huge success...Mason and McKinstry-Brown's reading selections, and those of the talented writers they engaged, were perfectly sculpted to suit a college crowd. With tonal variation that traveled from low lulls to breathless highs, they created images that moved the audience from somber emotional explorations to riotous laughter. Mason and McKinstry-Brown remind us that poetry is indeed a fine, fine art. We look forward to welcoming the duo back to Joslyn again and again."
–Susie Severson, Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha
"Both Sarah and Matt are beautiful poets with incredible performance capabilities. Catch their show-you'll return home remembering why you loved poetry in the first place."
–Heather Knowles Cottington, Des Moines Slammaster
"It is one thing to read poetry in a book and quite another to have a talented group of artists perform their original work. The students were captivated and inspired from the first moment and the poetry slam has become their favorite event of the year. The creativity, talent, commitment and persons of the poets who performed for us made poetry cool to the kids and made it relevant to the MTV generation. Some students are now going to poetry slams outside of school. I highly recommend to any instructor to invest some time in Matt Mason, Sarah, and their fellow poets because the dividends to students are enormous."
–Bob Nikunen, English Instructor, Bellevue West High School
"Sometimes I find it difficult to teach poetry in high school because students immediately perceive it as difficult and boring, and they believe they are "too cool" for that sort of thing. Matt convinced them that poetry was cool! His dynamic presentation was stuffed full of relevant information, and best of all, it was fun! Days later, my students are still excited and talking about Matt and poetry. This was one of the best presentations we've had at our school in years."
-Pam Vap, Litchfield High School
"The best investment I have ever made for my classroom has been Matt Mason."
–Renae Prieto, English instructor, Burke High School, Omaha
"Matt Mason was a vital contributor to the success of the Vermillion Literary Project's 2003 Annual Poetry Festival. He facilitated a poetry workshop for participants that many considered the highlight of the festival. He also read his own fascinating work during a noontime reading, and he showed the VLP how to run a poetry slam properly, leading us with slam professionalism and panache."
–Michelle Rogge Gannon, Vermillion Literary Project Faculty Advisor, University of South
Dakota
"Matt Mason provides the audience with a near-perfect blend of nonconformist humor and grounded, literate observation. His glass-sharp wit challenges listeners to use both their hearts and minds to stay in the moment with him...his poems will keep you guessing with many delightfully bizarre, unexpected twists. At home in both slam and academic settings, don't miss
hearing Matt when he comes to your town!"
–Robert O'Sullivan Schleith, San Diego slammaster
"A crowd pleaser across the Midwest, Mason's performances feature a dry wit and fantastic stage presence. The poet has competed several times in Des Moines, never losing a slam."
–Cityview (Des Moines weekly), 12/11/02
"I don't know poetry, but I know what I like. And I like Mr. Mason's work."
–The Link (Council Bluffs, IA Library newsletter), 4/01
"A hoot"
–9/15/97 review of Mason's chapbook "Old Froggo's Book of Practical Cows" in the Omaha World-Herald
"When You Are Born soars. Sarah McKinstry-Brown gives the reader a "flock of syllables" with a range rivaling any migratory birds. The trajectory of this book goes unflinchingly from death and metaphorical deaths to a passionate, and compassionate, commitment to life. We learn, as McKinstry-Brown learns from a pregnancy, "that to be human, is to be heavy, to carry more than one heart inside of you." Even language is rebirthed. She writes, "In my house 'I do' meant 'adieu'... but I'm fourth generation migration so 'I do' means 'I do'..." Tender yet uncompromising, these poems hold the world in its full complexity while offering lines that light up the fields we live in with fireflies. A shimmering work."
-Lisa Gill, author of Red As A Lotus
"...powerful, self-searching poems..."
-William Kloefkorn, Nebraska State Poet.
"Matt Mason is one of a handful of writers in any genre who's made me laugh till I cried and then, a heartbeat or two later, moved me to weep, not for the losses we inevitably suffer, but at the courage we necessarily muster to travel beyond our grief."
-J.V. Brummels, author of Cheyenne Line.
"...fresh and original in sensibility."
-Tom Snyder, author of Two Dogs and a Cigar".
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