Full speed through the morning dark by Matthew Tierney

Poetry is an ideal form for writing about travel. Individual poems capture moments and as a collection give the reader a literary photo album of the experience. Full speed through the morning dark, Matthew Tierney’s first collection, documents the poet’s travels through Asia, Russia, Ireland, and Wales. The book is divided into five sections, each representing a particular part of his journey. The first section, “The Word For Ai,” takes place in Japan, and the end of a relationship is accentuated by the loneliness of an unfamiliar country. In “Night Watch,” the poet discovers that one is never completely alone in Japan: In the building across from me the man in white underwear is doing his sit-ups. Behind him the television