“Bounce”

English instructor Matthew Miller was recently published in the Breakwater Review, a journal from UMass Boston’s MFA program. His poem, “Bounce,” depicts several famous villains from pop culture and literature as they explore the essential question: Do bad guys like trampolines?Miller stated that he got the inspiration from his son.“On a winter day a few years ago my son asked, ‘Daddy, do bad guys like trampolines?’” Miller said. “And I thought the question was really cool, because you can’t imagine a bad guy on a trampoline. And the poem just started going off from there.”The conclusion Miller drew from the question was that villains would not, even could not, enjoy trampolines because they were too worried about control to have fun.Aside from his son, Miller is surrounded by boyish rowdiness every day in his dorm, Main Street Hall.“The boys in our dorm can get pretty crazy sometimes, and he’s great at dealing with all that entails,” prep Jimmy Liu said.When writing the poem Miller said, “I thought about all the bad guys I knew, like Satan in Paradise Lost and the Joker from Batman.” He imagined them “bouncing on a trampoline, and I thought they wouldn’t, because they wouldn’t be able to laugh at themselves. They’re so concerned about being right that they couldn’t enjoy a trampoline.“Being silly is tough, and if they were willing to be silly, they wouldn’t be bad guys,” Miller said. Because of this insight and wisdom, many of the boys currently residing in dorm have expressed their admiration for the teacher.When some of the fun gets taken a bit too far, Miller knows how to act with stoic guidance. “When you need someone to talk to if you’re in a bit of a pickle, he’s one of the faculty everyone goes to,” Liu said.While he is an accomplished writer, Miller also makes time for other activities. Dylan Blackett, a prep in Main Street Hall, mentioned some of his hobbies.“He really enjoys writing poems and surfing,” he said. “One great thing he did was make our advisee group write a letter on pen and paper, and send it to someone. We were to write a sincere thank you to the person receiving the letter.”In his current and future work, Miller is focusing on the masculinity that he will have to teach both his children and the boys in the dorm.“You have to teach your boys to be men. Not a boy, not a guy, or a dude, but a mature man who respects the world and respects women and respects and loves everything in this world,” Miller said.In addition to his concern for the young people in his care, Miller is also taking time for his own self-reflection.“I’m working through my own fears and anxieties about what’s out there waiting for them, but also trying to reconcile it with this respect for the world as it is and trying to negotiate these two conflicting sides. It is a delicate balance.”