The Be-All and the End-All, by Matthew James Friday

Poetry, chapbook, 32 pages, from Bottlecap Features.

Taking a quote from Macbeth as the starting and end point for this collection, the poems consider what makes our world wonderful and worrying, hope-filled and hopeless, inspiring and daunting.

Environmental anxiety permeates the collection, and many poems stand witness to the tragedy of what is unfolding, though there is the possibility for redemption. There are poems that look back to a naive past, that study the concerns of a worried now; and consider the future both create. Throughout, there are poems that celebrate inspiring role models in the natural world.

The poems invite the reader to wonder about their role in the writing of our future. We still have time to decide on the outcome. Is our participation going to be heroic or tragic? Are we the masters of our own fate or were we charmed, like Macbeth? Surely we can be more accountable for our actions and celebrate the wonders around us. What the ‘be-all and the end-all’ will look like is still up to us.

Matthew James Friday is a British born writer, professional storyteller and public school teacher. He has an MA in Creative Writing from Goldsmith College, University of London. He has had many poems published in US and international journals from all corners of the world. He has published numerous micro-chapbooks with the Origami Poems Project. Matthew is a Pushcart Prize nominated poet. His first chapbook The Residents was published by Finishing Line Press. The Be-All and the End-All is his second chapbook. More of his writing can be found at: http://matthewfriday.weebly.com