The Patient Body
By (Author) Sebastian Matthews
Red Hen Press
Red Hen Press
3rd September 2025
United States
General
Non Fiction
B
Paperback
120
Width 148mm, Height 210mm
The Patient Body: A Personal Narrative in Pieces chronicles one man's journey as he attempts to lead a balanced life as a father, husband, friend, and literary citizen during traumatic times.
Written as a mosaic of 'flash' encounters, meditations, memories, and travel pieces, The Patient Body explores the ways the past resides inside the present and the present points to an uncertain future. An abecedary lies at the center of the book, composed for a former self, the twenty-six 'micro' sections create a dialogue that plays out across the divide created by a devastating car accident that changed everything.
Sebastian Matthews is the author of the memoir-in-essays Beyond Repair: Living in a Fractured State and the hybrid collection Beginners Guide to a Head-on Collision. His other publications include two books of poems, the memoir In My Fathers Footsteps, the collage novel The Life and Times of American Crow, and a collaboration with photographer Charter Weeks entitled Travelogue. He works as a writing coach and leads workshops for the Great Smokies Writing Program in Asheville, NC.