The Island's Only Escape
Published on 16. November 2017
Book
Paperback/Softback
42 pages
978-0-912887-57-9 (ISBN)
Description
When a writer dies too young, readers are always left with the question "What kind of writer would he have become if he had been granted a full career?" Matthew Phillips wrote these astonishingly good poems in his mid-twenties when he was studying Mideast history and politics and when he was questioning the many tensions of that region. His poems, however, are intellectually far-ranging, from academic settings to the Caves of Lascaux, from San Francisco to Sparta, but rooted in his personal and educational experiences in America. In many of his poems, he creates a narrator who describes what he sees around him and then, with a more detached eye, explores ideas and the meaning of personal experience. Sometimes the experience is literal, as in his "Letter From San Francisco" and at other times more figurative, as in "The Caves of Lascaux." Matthew Phillips' poems frequently concern philosophic probings of the meaning of History. In "Flight of the Peacemaker," the narrator says: As an American, he was told to take The telescope rather than the magnifying glass; It's History's long view that matters here. Yes, it is the long view that matters here.
More details
Language
English
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 3 mm
Weight
93 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-912887-57-9 (9780912887579)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Matthew Phillips was born and raised in New York City. He graduated from Bard High School Early College in downtown Manhattan in 2003, earning an Associate's Degree in lieu of a High School Diploma at the age of 18. He earned a Bachelor's Degree at Binghamton University and from there enrolled in the CUNY Graduate Center where he was slated to earn a Master's Degree in Middle Eastern Studies.
Matthew's primary focus in writing was the Israel-Palestine conflict. Often critical of Israel's involvement, he published eight essays on this topic on Mondoweiss, an online platform dedicated to informing the public about the ongoing struggle for peace in the region. Matt also wrote poetry and stories. A collection of his poetry, The Island's Only Escape, edited by his brother Ian, was published by Pleasure Boat Studio in 2018. About this publication, the reviewer Ricardo Nirenberg wrote in Offcourse, "A slim, posthumous book...by a poet of obviously unusual talent and attractive imagination." It can be ordered through Amazon or directly from Pleasure Boat Studio (www.pleasureboatstudio.com).
Matthew is the son of Louis Phillips and Patricia Ranard, and the twin brother of Ian Phillips. He died in New York on April 4, 2011, at the age of 26.
The poetry and other writings by Matthew Phillips can be accessed at matthewphillipswrites.com.