UC Student Publishes Book of Poetry with Foreword from Santa Ono

University of Cincinnati student Matt Teaford has more on his mind than finals right now — he is also in the process of publishing his debut book of poetry, “Heart of a Lion, Tongue of a Snake.”

Teaford is a McMicken College of Arts and Sceinces creative writing student and a member of UC’s Beta Theta Pi. 

His book is being published by Cincinnati Book Publishing with the foreword of the book written by UC President Santa J. Ono. 

“I see Matt’s successful completion of his first published collection of poetry as not only an individual milestone for him as a writer, but also as encouragement for all of us who see great value in the arts and humanities in an age where our society often questions their ‘worth’,” says Ono. 

And Teaford says he feels equally as passionate about the arts. 

“I will be forever grateful to our president, Santa Ono, for what he has done for me,” he says. “His words in the foreward align with my thoughts on the humanities. I hope there never comes a day that we forget the value of our language, and how the right words can change the lives of everyone who gets the opportunity to read them.” 

The collection of poetry includes the poem, “Fire,” written for Ellen Garner and Chad Kohls, the UC students and acquaintances of Teaford who died in a house fire in January 2013. 

“They were such beautiful, spirited individuals,” he says of Garner and Kohls. “I hope that my poem gives insight to how empty and dark the world feels after having such bright, young people taken away in such a close vicinity to me.”

The publication date is April 19. Teaford will hold a signing that day at 11 a.m. at Biggby Coffee, 2498 Dixie Highway, Fort Mitchell, Ky. 

The book is available for purchase through amazon.com and cincybooks.com.