“There is a sadness to McBride’s poetry that only a deep thinker can recreate, someone who has been inside the beautiful dark hollows of disappointment. It is encouraging to read the powerfully rendered thoughts of a vulnerable mind in a cynical time—here is a poet unafraid to be hurt; here is a poet bleeding in his own glass crop. Encouraging? Yes, because McBride understands that defensive poetry has no value.”
— Larissa Szporluk

“Somehow simultaneously metaphysical and down-to-earth, Matt McBride’s poems are a worthy read, reminding us of our hubris in assuming the rain ‘intends’ to hit us and how it’s okay to feel unromantic, even when surrounded by beauty. He’s a writer who uses his street smarts to tackle the ineffable. His work confirms why the Wick Poetry Series is so vital in finding new voices. Keep an eye on this guy.”
— Kevin Griffith