English Department Faculty
Suzanne Matson
Professor
Suzanne Matson
Ph.D.
Contact
Stokes Hall S437
Telephone: 617-552-3716
Email: suzanne.matson@bc.edu
Education
- B.A., Portland State University
- M.A., University of Washington
- Ph.D., University of Washington
Department
Biography
Academic specializations: creative writing, contemporary poetry.
Publications
Novels
- Ultraviolet. Catapult, 2018.
- The Tree-Sitter. New York: W. W. Norton, 2006.
- A Trick of Nature. New York: W. W. Norton, 2000.
- The Hunger Moon. New York: W. W. Norton, July 1997.
Books of Poetry
- Durable Goods. Cambridge: Alice James Books, 1993.
- Sea Level. Cambridge: Alice James Books, 1990.
Poetry in Periodicals
- “Missionary, 1920,” “Went into a Bar,” “Celia,” “To Genda,” “Little Deaths,” “Calling Her.”Re-Markingsspecial number: A World Assembly of Poets 16.4 (November 2017): 163-66.
- “Wٳ.”73 (11/6/16).
- “Division Street,” “Story,” “Rishikesh.” (2/27/14).
- “Found Haiku, Missing Beat.” Washington Square Review (winter/spring 2009): 26.
- “Birds at Six O’Clock”; “From SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS”; “Reading Lesson at a Farm Workers’ Community School, Woodville, California, 1942.” Kippis! 1:1 (winter 2009): 29-31.
- “Honeymoon Snapshot: Diptych.” Boston College Magazine 66.4 (fall 2006): 61.
- “Mysore Pantoum,” “Ballroom Dancing, A Vision,” “Photographing Debra.”
- Kestrel 18 (2005): 54-58.
- “Alligator Country” (reprinted), “Backyard Soil, c. 1960,” “Renovation.” Salamander: Then and Now 10th Anniversary Issue 9.1-2 (2003): 134-8.
- “Desert Botanical Garden.” Sou’wester 31.1 (fall 2002): 92.
- “A Nickel Sun.” New England Review 23.2 (spring 2002): 145.
- “Unreasonable Fears.” Boston College Magazine 62.2 (spring 2002): 5.
- “Cruelty,” “Florida Wake.” Seattle Review 20.1 (fall 1998): 117-18.
- “For Frances, Who Can’t Stop Dreaming of Danger, Even When the Children Are Safe at Home.” Poetry Northwest 38.4 (winter 1997-98): 40.
- “Nicholas, Refusing to Sleep,” “Then, Nicholas.” Salamander 4.1 (spring 1996): 7-8.
- “Love Poem.” The Madison Review 17.2 (fall 1995): 54.
- “Milk/Love.” Harvard Review 9 (fall 1995): 88.
- “The Oath of Happiness.” Boston College Magazine 54.4 (fall 1995): 14.
- “Alligator Country,” “Elegy,” “This Distance.” Salamander 3.1 (winter 1995): 65-7.
- “Not Talking About God in America.” Red Brick Review 1995: 14.
- “Platia Talo,” Wifery.” Berkeley Poetry Review 27 (1993-94): 90-1.
- “Hometown.” Boston College Magazine 52.3 (summer 1993): 25.
- “Flagstaff.” Harvard Review 4 (spring 1993): 36-7.
- “The Wreck of Days.” Indiana Review 16.1 (spring 1993): 186-90.
- “Cafe.” Sou’wester 20.3 (winter 1993): 29.
- “Farm Animals.” Christian Science Monitor 85.62 (25 February 1993): 16.
- “The Beach.” Sojourner 18.1 (Sept. 1992): 37.
- “Worry.” Sojourner 17.12 (Aug. 1992): 6B.
- “Greek.” Shenandoah 42.2 (summer 1992): 85.
- “Petty Crime.” Dominion Review 10 (spring 1992): 22.
- “Woman with Distaff.” Iris 24 (fall-winter 1990): c. 1989): 25.
- “Elegy for Neil.” Southern Poetry Review 29.2 (fall 1989): 23.
- “Debussy,” “There Was a Temporary Accident.” The American Poetry Review 17.2 (Mar.-Apr. 1988): 21.
- “The Artist and His Model,” “The Bohemian Wedding,” “The Wound-up Girl
- Ice Skater.” Fine Madness 3.2 (fall 1986): 6-9.
- “In Rovaniemi, Finland.” Poetry Northwest 27.1 (spring 1986): 11-12.
- “Coyotes,” “Letters,” “Travelers.” The Seattle Review 9.1 (spring 1986): 79-82.
- “Centralia Stop,” “Jackson County Census.” The Seattle Review 7.1 (spring 1984): 17-18.
- “After ‘Charming,’” “The Sunbather,” “The Sunday Drunk.” Poetry 142.2 (May 1983): 90-3.
- “Fossils,” “Leaving Garibaldi.” Poetry Northwest 23.4 (winter 1982-83): 39-41.
- “Love in the Coal Mine,” “Scotch Coulee,” “Newspaper Pictures out of Poland,”
- “Widow Aunts.” Poetry Northwest 23.2 (summer 1982): 26-9.
Anthologized Work
- “Pie.” Ed. Ladette Randolph.Ploughshares Solos Omnibus: Volume 3. Boston: Ploughshares, 2015. 1-31.
- “One night.” Ed. Alice Hoffman.40 Women, 40 Words: For the Anniversary of Rosie’s Place. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014. 44.
- “Coyotes,” “In Rovaniemi, Finland, Twenty-fifth Birthday,” “Night Fishing,” “The Beach,” “Father’s Day,” “Stubbornness,” “Durable Goods” (poems); “Persephone at Boylston” (story). Finnish-North American Literature in English: A Concise Anthology. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen P, 2009. 531-51.
- “Love in the Coal Mine.” Coal: A Poetry Anthology. Ashland, KY: Blair Mountain Press, 2006. 143.
- “Worry,” “The Beach.” Sojourner: A Feminist Anthology. Urbana: U of Illinois Press, 2004. 113-14.
- “The Wound-up Girl Ice Skater,” “The Bohemian Wedding.” March Hares: The Best Poems from Fine Madness, 1982-2002. Seattle, WA: Fine Madness, 2002. 242-244.
- “First Words.” The Fruitful Branch: 21 Brookline Authors on Literature, Libraries, Life. Brookline, MA: Brookline Library Foundation, 2002. 67.
- “Scotch Coulee.” Red, White and a Paler Shade of Blue: Poems on the Finnish-American Experience. Rhinelander, WI: Tamarack Publishing Co., 1996. 26-27.
- “The Regulars,” “Wifery.” For a Living: The Poetry of Work (companion anthology to Working Classics). Urbana: U of Illinois Press, 1995. 256-8.
- “Love in the Coal Mine.” Working Classics: Poems on Industrial Life. Urbana: U of Illinois Press, 1990. 160.
- “The Sunday Drunk.” Anthology of Magazine Verse & Yearbook of American Poetry. Beverly Hills, CA: Monitor Book Co., 1984. 301.
Nonfiction Essays
- “,” in “Ties,”New York Times, Nov. 23, 2018.
- "For parents, gridiron isn’t just fun and games.” The Boston Globe Oct. 31, 2009: A11.
- "Prospects.” Boston College Magazine 68:3 (Summer 2008): 50-1.
- "Fellow Workers. . . .” The Seattle Times June 27, 2005: B5.
- “A Thank-You Note.” Child February 2000: 104.
- “Love Among the Ruins.” Child February 1999: 111-12.
- “Days Like These.” Child August 1998: 19.
- “Milestones.” Child May 1998: 119.
- “When Nick Met Henry.” Child Dec.-Jan. 1998: 151-2.
- “He’s Not Heavy, He’s My Baby.” New York Times Magazine Jan. 12, 1997: 54.
Short Fiction
- “Convention Center,”Harvard Review48: (Dec 2015).
- “Manger,”online (9/4/2015); in printPangyrus 2.
- “Pie,”3:1 (August 27, 2014).
- “Your Best Yet,”Harvard Review45: 92-108 (May 2014).
- “Boys’ Choir.”Carolina Quarterly62.3 (winter 2012): 60-5.
- “Ultraviolet.”(June 2012).
- “Persephone at Boylston.” BostonNOW 1.5-1.11 (April 23-May 1, 2007), serialized in seven installments.
Column
- “Disquieting Muses: The Politics/Poetics of Looking.” Harvard Review 7 (fall 1994): 125-8.
- “Disquieting Muses: Mnemosyne.” Harvard Review 5 (fall 1993): 20-2.
- “Disquieting Muses: Sylvia Plath and the Problem of Relation.” Harvard Review 4 (spring 1993): 32-5.
Articles in Books
- “Birth Metaphors in Three American Women Poets.” Commonwealth and American Women’s Discourse: Essays in Criticism. Ed. A. L. McLeod. New Delhi: Sterling Press, 1996. 268-277.
- “On Reclaiming the Universal.” Where We Stand: Women Poets on Literary Tradition. Ed. Sharon Bryan. NY: W. W. Norton, 1993. 118-124.
Articles in Journals
- “The Liberty Committee: Finns, Sedition, and Montana Vigilantes during World War I.” Journal of Finnish Studies 13:1 (summer 2009): 67-74.
- “Strange Cities.” Harvard Review 13 (fall 1997): 47-50. A special issue devoted to the poetry of Charles Simic.
- “‘Without Relation’: Family and Freedom in the Poetry of Louise Glück.” The Mid-American Review 14.2 (1994): 88-109.
- “Flowery Codes: Sandra McPherson’s Poetics of Gender and Naturalism.” Denver Quarterly 28.2 (fall 1993): 86-92 .
- “On Reclaiming the Universal.” River City 13.2 (spring 1993): 118-124.
- “Please Don’t Call it the New Confessionalism.” Harvard Review 2 (fall 1992): 164-66.
- “Talking to Our Father: The Political and Mythical Appropriations of Adrienne Rich and Sharon Olds.” The American Poetry Review 18.6 (Nov.-Dec. 1989): 35-41.