Matthew Thorburn


Matthew Thorburn is an American poet. He is the author of three books of poems, Subject to Change, Every Possible Blue and This Time Tomorrow, and a chapbook, Disappears in the Rain.

Life

Thorburn is a native of Michigan. He graduated from the University of Michigan, and The New School with an MFA. He lives in New York City.
He works on the business staff of an international law firm. He was one of the founders of Good Foot magazine, co-editing the journal from 2000 to 2004.
His poems have appeared in Poetry, The Paris Review, Prairie Schooner, Poetry Northwest, and The American Poetry Review, among other journals. He also regularly contributes book reviews to Pleiades.

Awards

In his high-spirited debut, Matthew Thorburn includes a poem, “Variations,” which is divided into three sections, each containing three stanzas separated by the conjunction ‘or,’ as if to offer the reader a range of choices for which poem they’d like to consume. The result is not unlike a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book, or a menu at a restaurant which lets you construct your own meal. This playful interactivity is representative of the enchanting, inventive spirit of the collection as a whole.