Out of Sequence

The debut poetry collection of Matt Wells, Out Of Sequence, is a feast of formal verse, serving up single poems followed by a pair of Shakespearean sonnets to create an emotional whole that is greater than the sum of its lyrical parts. Like the best of Richard Wilbur and W. H. Auden, Wells writes lines that are studded with brilliant imagery in verse that is always more than clever rhymes and never less than heartfelt. And those sonnets. Effortlessly combining the colloquial with that strict fourteen-line form, Wells writes sonnets that flow smoothly from the playful to the piercing as they confront grief, failure, death and regret, look them square in the face, and somehow make them all feel as uplifting as love. Out Of Sequence is a collection that will take the reader on a journey from joy to grief and back again, with poems that will resonate long after they've been read.