Matt Jones

I am a war poem monger.  I love the inherent tension of war poems.  I don’t mean the patriotic stuff.  I mean war poems that are blistering and authentic.  I love the way violent and traumatic experiences can strain poetic language to the breaking point.  I love poems that struggle to assemble the inexpressible into […]

Matt Jones, the artistic director of VERSeFEST 2015, is unexpectedly calm as we sit down on Saturday morning for coffee near Elgin Street.  It’s only a few days away from the opening of Ottawa’s annual poetry festival and he acknowledges that a few pieces haven’t come together yet (noted later in the article) but he […]