Although clothed in the Old and New Testaments and song (Irish folk and music hall, pre- and post-war pop, and Broadway tunes), poetry has always been a part of Matt Dougherty's life. By adolescence, loving song had led him to express in words what he was thinking and feeling. Without a lick of musical talent, painfully earnest, and woefully limited by youth and inexperience - he has been writing poems ever since.