Fishing for Family

The tragedy of language is that "words harden us until we are not / the wondrous thing we are when born." It's this tragedy that animates Anthony DiMatteo's Fishing for Family, a gem of a book. It seeks the Grail of comprehending a life as and of family even if "dreams and poems butcher us all." In this well-sung sequence, the joys and burdens of human relationships resound to us in masterfully tuned sound and form. It shows how one may learn to survive those dear to us, to love them, and to remember them as-- whomever they are--the all that we have.-George Guida, Author of Zen of Pop, Pugilistic, and New York and Other Lovers; Co-editor, 2 Bridges ReviewNavigating the waters of life from childhood through senescence, DiMatteo pierces through an intricate, vividly depicted metaphoric netting for his resonant, metaphysical question: "Can a life outgrow its home?" With lyrical eloquence, he probes a paradox: we are / are not a product of family. Right from the start, "a child has a way of voicing other/ than a parent's, a different way/ of seeing, of feeling." Our ever-evolving self is always "at a crossroads ... open at both ends where one stands." Art's greatest inspiration, he reveals, is "how light floods the world with shadow." Each uniquely transient moment is, "a beauty bound to be nevermore, / with nothing else like it when it lived." Yet, he affirms, "how lucky one is to be alive." -Gayl Teller, Author of Flashlight: New and Selected Poems; Walt Whitman Birthplace 2016 Poet of the Year