English lecturer’s poems explore ‘rhetoric of grief’ on ‘MTSU On the Record’

A spiritual and lyrical look at the circle of life through an MTSU English instructor’s new poetry collection was the focus of a recent “MTSU On the Record” radio program.

Matthew L. Brown

Host Gina Logue’s interview with Matthew L. Brown, a lecturer in the Department of English, first aired Feb. 19 on WMOT-FM Roots Radio 89.5 and www.wmot.org. You can listen to their conversation above.

Brown’s latest book of poetry, “Thou Art That,” was inspired by the long-term illness and death of some of his immediate family members, which coincided with a serious illness of his own.

His perspectives on sickness and death alternate among prose, verse, obituaries and daily routines, all with an eye to appreciating how time, loss and memory combine as an individual experiences emotional trauma.

cover of MTSU lecturer Matthew L. Brown’s new poetry collection, “Thou Art That” “I spent a lot of time … sitting in oncology treatment waiting rooms and labs, just kind of absorbing the rhetoric of grief from people around me who were watching their entire world fall apart in the physical embodiment of a loved one and seeing what that loss means, and it really is an apocalypse,” Brown said.

Brown also is co-founder of Writers Corps, a student literary project for military veterans and their families; the Lavinia Project, a creative writing group for survivors, witnesses and allies against sexual and domestic violence; and Nuestros Voces, a writing and resource acquisition group for Latino students and others interested in the Latino experience.