On Texts from the Dead by Clif Mason
by Matt Mason
Nebraska State Poet emeritus
Hi, I’m Matt Mason, I was the State Poet of Nebraska between 2019 and the end of 2024, and I am here for Poets on the Plains.
Today, I’m reading and talking about Nebraska poet Clif Mason’s poem “Texts from the Dead.”
This poem is the title poem from a manuscript he recently finished and which will hopefully (very hopefully) be available soon.
Clif Mason is the author of Knocking the Stars Senseless, published by Stephen F. Austin State University Press in 2019. He also has three chapbooks: The Book of Night & Waking (winner of the 2019 Cathexis Northwest Press Chapbook Prize), Self-Portraits in Which I Do Not Appear (published by Finishing Line Press) and From the Dead Before (published by Lone Willow Press).
I’ve known Clif for a couple decades now as we both tied in the first ever poetry slam held in Omaha back in 1999 in a bookstore in the center of town. After that, though, Clif retired from poetry slam with an undefeated record, and has excelled as a writer. He taught at Bellevue University for years and is widely published in places like RATTLE, Southern Poetry Review Poet Lore, and on and on and on. He’s also been awarded prizes by the Joe Gouveia Outermost Poetry Contest, Writers’ Journal, the Midwest Writers’ Conference, SPSM&H, and the Academy of American Poets. Clif is a former Fulbright Fellow to Rwanda, Africa and lives with his wife on the edge of a forest in Bellevue, Nebraska.
Texts from the Dead
Every day you await texts
from the dead.
It’s not clear what you expect.
There’s nothing
you can give them,
nothing they want or need
from this world
or from you.
Their touch is softer
than geranium petals,
softer than mouse fur.
Their voice is softer yet,
softer than the breeze
that doesn’t wish
to become a wind,
softer than owl calls
from a distant wood.
What do you hope they’ll say?
That they still care?
That they will help you
become better?
Unsilence your phone.
You need to be ready.
Reply swiftly,
or you’ll miss your chance.
Used with permission
I envy Clif’s imagination, he has such a good touch roaming between the concrete and the surreal which he does in this poem and in so many of his others. In this poem, there’s such a good touch with his similes to give a sense of how the dead are impacting the living, with their touch that’s “softer than mouse fur” and their voices “softer than owl calls/from a distant wood.” He’s great with his sounds and his language and with the atmosphere he creates which so perfectly matches the concept of text messages from the next life. He pulls it off wonderfully and ends the poem using the urgency of a Public Service Announcement which, after so much mystery in this poem, hits with an even more beautiful impact.
As I mentioned, Clif Mason is the author of Knocking The Stars Senseless, pick up a copy now.
This has been Matt Mason; I am the Nebraska State Poet here from my hometown of Omaha.
POETS ON THE PLAINS HOST
Matt Mason served as the Nebraska State Poet from 2019-2024 and has run poetry workshops in Botswana, Romania, Nepal, and Belarus for the U.S. State Department. His poetry has appeared in The New York Times and Matt has received a Pushcart Prize as well as fellowships from the Academy of American Poets and the Nebraska Arts Council. His work can be found in Rattle, Poet Lore, Prairie Schooner, and in hundreds of other publications. Mason’s 5th book, Rock Stars, was published by Button Poetry in 2023. You can find more about Matt at https://midverse.com/
FEATURED POET
Clif Mason lives with his wife, a visual artist, on the edge of a forest in Bellevue, Nebraska. He is the author of one full-length collection, Knocking the Stars Senseless (Stephen F. Austin State University Press), and three chapbooks: The Book of Night & Waking (Cathexis Northwest Press Chapbook Prize), Self-Portraits in Which I Do Not Appear (Finishing Line Press), and From the Dead Before (Lone Willow Press).
His work has appeared in Southern Poetry Review, The Classical Outlook, New Millennium Writings, The New Guard, Poet Lore, The Lyric, and Orbis International Literary Journal (UK), among others, and has been nominated for Pushcart and Best of the Net prizes. He is fortunate that his poems have been featured at and/or awarded prizes by Writers' Journal, the Joe Gouveia Outermost Poetry Contest, Negative Capability Press, Cathexis Northwest Press, Plainsongs, SPSM&H, Amelia, the Midwest Writers' Conference, and the Academy of American Poets. He is a former Fulbright Fellow to Rwanda.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mason_clif
