Groundwork, by Christen Mattix

Poetry, chapbook, 28 pages, from Bottlecap Features.

This first chapbook by Christen Mattix centers on a deep engagement with the rural and wild spaces of the Pacific Northwest. Mattix begins with what is under her feet or near at hand—a maple seed, or a fern. These humble beginnings prove unexpectedly fecund, giving rise to deeply-felt poems that touch universal themes of joy, grief, and homecoming.

Mattix’s sensitive ear, eye, and heart are showcased in these poems which beg to be read outloud. Anything but literal, these poems are acts of imaginative power in a voice that ranges from playful to sublime. Drawing from diverse formats including recipes, the news, and even to-do lists, Mattix breaks new ground for herself, and, in the process, invites us to rediscover the enchantment hidden within the everyday.

Christen Mattix is an experimental poet and painter, born 1977 in Seattle, WA. Her poems have appeared in Psaltery and Lyre, Catacombs Press, Shoreline Poetry Zine, Seen Journal, The Meeting Place, and more. Mattix’s poems are published in these anthologies: To Sing the Salmon Home, published by Empty Bowl Press, and For The Love of Orcas, of Wandering Aengus Press. Mattix has an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and a BFA from Western Washington University. christenmattix.com.