Hello, Paradise. Paradise, Goodbye

Clive Matson began his career as a poet among the Beats in the Lower East Side of Manhattan during the 1960s. He was mentored and influenced by Allen Ginsberg, John Wieners, Diane di Prima, Alden Van Buskirk, Michael McClure, and Herbert Huncke. He is the author of nine volumes of poetry and the creative writing tutorial Let The Crazy Child Write! and has been a creative writing teacher for 40 years. He frequently performs his work at Bay Area reading venues, including excerpts from his newest poem, "Hello Paradise, Paradise Good-bye." This long poem was premiered 2017 in Paris, France, the city of Climate Accord, and treats the topics of modern day threat of extinction, civil unrest, and evolving consciousness. Clive is the recipient of the Berkeley Lifetime Achievement in Poetry Award in 2012, was named the Best East Bay Writing Teacher in 2006, received a PEN Oakland Josephine Miles National Award in 2003, and was honored as a Lifetime Beat Laureate in 2023 by the National Beat Poetry Foundation. He also is founder of the current online periodical Wordswelljournal.org.