In his new book Poems & Prayers, the actor Matthew McConaughey offers up some intimate thoughts in both prose and verse, divided into themed sections. I found this work to be a mixed bag. Some of the poems seem contrived, while others are beautiful, simple, and insightful. The pages of prose often make for thoughtful reading. Overall, the book cries out for the guidance of a sharp editor.
In some poems the wordplay is quite clever, while in others it's overwrought. In a poem called "Daymares" - about small, almost unnoticeable daily habits we have that wound those close to us - McConaughey remixes a common expression in the line, "the pets that we peeve." This made me laugh; after all, who hasn't left a beloved pet feeling that way? This is McConaughey at his most witty.
There's also wordplay that reads more like word salad: "I take a scroll down the Rolodex of my memory's lane." You really have to work to wrap your mind around this awkward line. It sounds to me - who spent several years in an earlier career creating and evaluating therapeutic programs for nursing home residents - very much like something a person with dementia might say.
Some poems are so packed with metaphor and cryptic symbolism that the meaning is lost on me. The poems "Fallen Leaves" and "The Mess I Made" are examples. Removing a few stanzas would make these poems more polished and coherent. A poem called "Capably Able" is full of clever rhymes and imagery, but there is so much going on in it that I can't make sense of the whole.
Then there are the prayers, most of them written in verse form. McConaughey expresses a traditional Christian religiosity, in which he offers prayers to a father figure, examining his own flaws and asking forgiveness and redemption. These felt a bit exhibitionist to me, yet his discussion of why we pray is perceptive.
What I found much more interesting in both his prose and his poetry is the expression of another kind of spirituality he has but never labels as such: a distinct sense of the yin and yang in the operations of the universe. In a reflection on page 75 he wrote: "Consequences go both ways. With every decision, choice, action, there will be a give with the take, a credit with the debit...something good and something bad." On another page: "If you make a profit in one place, you're gonna get a debt in another."
Elsewhere, a yin/yang sensibility is expressed by an entire poem called "Back to the Future," every line a reference to complementary opposites. On another page is an untitled, elegant little poem about doers and dreamers; they have opposing qualities and the world needs both types of people. McConaughey's book highlights his belief in and practice of Christianity while not overtly acknowledging this more intuitive side of his view of life.
McConaughey's prose feels less forced, and in places is just as lyrical as his best poems here while summing up some worthy insights. He believes in the necessity of difficulties in life in order to mature. He believes in post traumatic growth for those willing to take a hard and critical look at themselves. He is big on personal accountability.
Crown Publishing slipped up with this publication, though; the book needs tighter editing. There are grammatical errors throughout - apostrophes where they shouldn't be, and redundancy of both words and thoughts within single sentences in several places, as well as excess in some of the poems. Correcting these errors and trimming away some of the confusing lyricism would result in a more polished book.
- Marianne W.
