Matthew Porubsky reads from his new poetry book at Topeka Library

Matthew Porubsky will read from his newly released sixth poetry book, "Stand in Old Light," on Sunday, November 17 at 3 p.m. at Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library. This poetry collection takes a meditative look at how being true to oneself influences the dynamics of family, friendship and identity.

Matthew Porubsky is a writer born and raised in Topeka, Kansas. In addition to his latest book he is the author of "voyeur poems," "Fire Mobile (the pregnancy sonnets)," "John," "Ruled by Pluto" and "Serpent’s Lap." 

“I learned all about storytelling down at my family’s deli,” said Porubsky. “They were all poets down there. It was a different kind of poetry. Maybe the truest, oldest kind of poetry — communicating memories. Some memories may have been more truthful than others, but memories nonetheless.”

"Stand in Old Light" takes a stream-of-consciousness look at examining memories and emotion, letting the interpretation flow like water around obstacles in a stream, unrestricted from its continuous sojourn. The poems in this collection focus on the present moment.

This will be Porubsky’s first reading in Topeka in more than a decade. “I had taken a bit of a hiatus from performing poetry before the pandemic to practice being a listener rather than a speaker. I believe listening is the most important aspect of poetry,” said Porubsky. “That lead to several years of discovery that involved a deeper definition of who I was as a writer, my place in the contemporary poetic conversation, and helped revitalize my appreciation of the performance of storytelling.”