Pipe Smoke, by Matthew Schultz

Poetry, chapbook, 24 pages, from Bottlecap Features. Pipe Smoke is a collection of fourteen free-verse poems, each composed of fourteen lines, contemplating the antiquated act of smoking a briarwood tobacco pipe. While some readers might consider each poem an independent rumination, others may read the entire chapbook as something like a single sonnet, or “little song,” in fourteen parts that celebrates the intoxicating relationship between pipe smoking and poetry––two art forms that invite us to slow down the maddening rush of modern life. These poems consider carving and collecting, family and friends, ritual and remembrance, solitude and smoke. Pipe Smoke is a celebration of collective and personal histories tied to tinkering and smell. These aromatic poems are a companion for contemporary pipe smokers and a Proustian passport for readers intent on visiting the past. Matthew Schultz is originally from Cleveland, Ohio. He now resides in the Hudson Valley where he reads and writes books, plays the bass guitar, and drinks black coffee. He smokes Peterson of Dublin pipes.