Poem: Falling Men
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JULIAN MATTHEWS is a writer of poetry, short stories and essays. He is published in The American Journal of Poetry, Borderless Journal, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, The New Verse News, Autumn Sky Poetry Daily, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Live Encounters, among others. He is a mixed-race minority based in Malaysia. More of his recent work and upcoming events can be found below:
https://linktr.ee/julianmatthews
PERFORMANCE POET (2017 - Present day)
Julian has performed at various regular open mics online including Rattle Magazine's Rattlecast (California, USA) , Nuyorican Poets Cafe (New York, USA), Cobalt Poets (California, USA), Poetry in the Brew (Nashville, Tennessee,USA), Cultivating Voices Live Poetry (Washington, USA) Mitch's Salon (San Francisco, USA), Time to Arrive (San Francisco, USA), Inspired Poetry Corner Recital (Toronto, Canada), Perth Poetry Club (Perth, Australia) Let's Unmesh Life (India), York Spoken Word (Britain), Oooh Beehive (Britain), Lunchtime Poetry with Martin Vernon (Ireland), Pub Poetry Causeway Coast (Ireland), Kotoba Slam Japan (Tokyo, Japan), Sidewalk Beirut (Lebanon), Word Is Write (Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA), Barbed Wire Open Mic (El Paso, Texas, USA), Poetry At Your Place (New Zealand), Between the Lines (Singapore/Phoenix, Arizona), Bottoms Up (Philippines/Houston, Texas, USA), KL Poetry Share (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), Readings KL (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) among others.
FEATURE, CO-FEATURE OR HEADLINER POET: Julian has been invited to be the feature/headliner or co-feature at various poetry events including Cobalt Poets (host: Rick Lupert, Calif, USA), Canyon Poets (Host: Katerina Canyon, USA), Perth Poetry Club (Host: Elio Novello, Perth, Australia), Time To Arrive (Host: Dane Ince, San Francisco,USA), Poetry Square with Diane Funston (Host: Yuba Sutter Arts & Culture), Inspired Poetry Recital Corner (Host: Rawle Iam James, Toronto, Canada), Poets At Port (Host: Linda Dickman, New York, USA), Guildford Poets Guild (Host: Nancy Meneely, Guildford, Connecticut, USA), Lyrics & Dirges (Host: MK Chavez, USA), Oooh Beehive (Hosts: Clive Oseman and Nick Lovell, UK), Fire and Dust Poetry (Hosts: Ann Atkins, Raef Boylan, Coventry, UK), Garage Poets (Host: Jeff Taylor, USA), Word Is Write (Host: Marissa Prada, New Mexico, USA), Blue Water Poetry, Michigan, USA [Host: George Wylie], Speak Your Truth, Bradford, UK [Host: Spoke Poetry Hub, Sharena Lee], Creativity Abuzz [Halima Mayat], London, Britain, Saturday Night Special, Austin, Texas, USA [Host: Hollie Hardy], Envisioning a New Age of Poetry [Host: Penny Thieme, VALA Gallery], Lawrence, Kansas, USA, The Music of the Word/La Palabras [Host: Avotcja Jiltonilro], Oakland, California, USA, ProPeers.net, Los Angeles, California, USA [Host: Jane Engleman], Zoom Magic Theatre, Thailand [Host: Valerie Parker], BookWoman Virtual Reading [Host: Cindy Huyser], Austin, Texas, USA and Sacred Grounds, San Francisco, USA [Host: Dr Daniel Brady] . He was an invited as guest poet for various international events such as Live Poets Riot at Llanelli (Wales, commemorating industrial action of 1911), Women Children Ukraine War- Artists Speak (San Francisco, USA, on protesting war) and Reading for Well-Being (York, Britain, on mental health).
JOURNALIST AND TRAINER (1984- 2022)
Julian began his career as a freelancer for New Straits Times, and then as a journalist with The Star (Malaysia) in 1984. He switched to travel writing in 1989 and won the Tourist Development Corporation’s Best Travel Writer award that same year. Since 1991, he has established a career as a professional business and technology writer for various corporations, trade publications, magazines and online media. As a journalist, Julian has contributed to the New Straits Times, The Star and The Edge in Malaysia and the New Zealand Herald. He is skilled in writing and editing news stories as well as doing analyses and features for print and online publications.
Julian Matthews is one of the pioneers in online journalism in Malaysia. He was the first Malaysian correspondent for AsiaBizTech.com, a Nikkei Business Publications, Inc website based in Silicon Valley in 1997 and correspondent for Nikkei Electronics Asia for 14 years. Besides Nikkei, he was also at various times, the Malaysian correspondent for some of the most prominent online technology and business publishers in the Asia Pacific region including CNET, ZDNet and Newsbytes, a Washington Post-Newsweek subsidiary.
As a trainer for 15 years, Julian has trained executives and senior management of multinationals on Effective Media Relations, Effective Investor Relations, Online Advertising, Online Marketing, Corporate Social Media and Crisis Communications.
Julian is the co-founder of media training, consultancy and news writing services company Trinetizen Media Sdn Bhd (trinetizen.com). Julian designed, developed and presented over 30 workshops on Multimedia Journalism, Social Media Journalism and Mobile Video Journalism for reporters, editors and photographers of The Star, Bernama and RTM, which he designed and developed specifically for media professionals transitioning to online media.
As a consultant, Julian has extended his services to multinationals such as IBM, HP, Accenture, Nestlé and Malaysian companies Maxis and Proton.
As a web designer, he has developed various websites with strong emphasis on marketing niche services and raising awareness for non-government organisations.
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FALLING I was perhaps five or six when I first remember my father fall. Drunk. My face pressed against the glass gripping the grilled gate He had just been dropped outside by a friend It was dark.
I remember when it first happened it was the first time I heard the word "schizophrenia"/ I did not know how to spell it even though I was a good speller/ I remember when I tried to pronounce it, it was as if my tongue had tied itself in a knot and hung out of the side of my mouth, salivating like a dog's.
A poem on our first meeting after being in a writing workshop on Zoom for six weeks, and in various lockdowns for a year and ten months.
I am not a Christmas tree/To be pulled out of storage once a year/Trussed up and encircled with blinking lights/Decorated with baubles, ball ornaments, cheap glitter and plastic pinecones
And the one known as the Orange One is gone/And the orange that I now savour is real and true and good/And today, yes today, is a good day
The day Michael Jackson died on June 25, 2009, I received a SMS from my eldest brother. He rarely messaged me, but since I was the only journalist in the family, I was the go-to person when any major news broke...
I remember when I was eight or nine, dad bundled us children into the Morris Minor 1000 and drove us to Port Klang. We were sending back a distant relative -- an uncle with white hair -- to Sri Lanka, an uncle my mother never liked hosting...
The day of reckoning had come. She got off her favourite red couch, for the last time, and headed out to the driveway to await her robocar. For a 103-year-old, she was still spry. Her searing blue eyes that cut through many spineless men's egos...
It was my daily routine. I liked my coffee hot. Put the water to boil in the kettle first.Then take the seven pills in the pillbox that Jenna had filled for the week. Today was Friday. One for my heart, two for my pressure, two for the arthritis and the last two to keep me sane...