Compression: Christina Murphy
“A prose poem invites compression as the major focus is on imagery and the ability of images to create and carry a narrative. There are theories as to how the image flow in prose poetry is related to stream of consciousness narration only with the exception that the narrative techniques are not always focused upon the interiority of characters. I like prose poetry for its capacity to compress and focus in on a range of philosophical perspectives. These perspectives might involve interiority, but often they involve an externalization of ideas and feelings so that the reader is the one placed at the center of interpreting the meaning of the experiences described. (more…)
Compression: Darren Crawford
“Compressed literature most closely resembles, and replicates the way we remember powerful events. It should be precise, and profound, like a laser guided missile. We remember some details and images of experiences past, but the viscera retain their emotional substance, and significance. Compression, condensation removes the extra weight, and shoots straight for the heart.” — Darren Crawford
Compression: Ross McMeekin
“When I was a kid, I used to love those tough little spongy dinosaurs you left it in a pool of water so they’d grow to five times their original size. There was something wonderful and magical about leaving triceratops in a bucket then coming back a half hour later to discover this gross, heavy, gelatinous mass of dinosaur, ready to menace action figures and host bacterial spores in its engorged pores. Skillfully compressed literature offers me a similar satisfaction. It slowly expands in my mind after I read it, and keeps drawing me back in for more looks, to see what it has become. Also, like those dinosaur sponges, something in compressed literature’s form and content is emblematic of an ancient, buried, timeless truth; it points to some huge massive collection of bones in need of excavation.” — Ross McMeekin
Compression: Eric Bosse
“I have spent twelve years obsessing over the idea that one can squeeze the whole of a relationship and its history, and the universe in which it happens, into a few details and a handful of spoken lines. I keep trying. Hopefully, when I get it right, I will be cured of the similar urge to write novels.” — Eric Bosse
Matter Press is now offering private flash fiction workshops and critiques of flash fiction collections here.
Upcoming:
03/23 • Kenneth Pobo
03/30 • Roberta Allen
04/06 • Avril Shakira Villar
04/13 • TBD
04/20 • TBD
04/27 • TBD
05/04 • TBD
05/11 • TBD
05/18 • TBD
05/25 • TBD
06/01 • TBD
06/08 • TBD
06/15 • TBD
06/22 • TBD
06/29 • TBD
07/06 • TBD
07/13 • TBD
07/20 • TBD
07/27 • TBD
08/03 • TBD
08/10 • TBD
08/17 • TBD
08/24 • TBD
08/31 • TBD
09/07 • TBD
09/14 • TBD
09/21 • TBD