"Very impressive... Rader has craft to burn and a compelling dark vision of life."
-Zachariah Wells, Quill & Quire 

"Constructs a series of solid images and then takes them apart to see what makes them tick. It's hard to believe this is Rader's first book... The poet has the ability to see strange things, the quirky unseen details that might be difficult to mention... He documents that continuing sensual edge between the bright light and the burn."
-Jacqueline Turner, The Georgia Straight 

"These poems are the work of an artist who sees things differently... [and] provide illuminating bursts of insights and recognition. This is brawny, challenging work."
-Statesman Journal, Salem, Oregon 

"What's most striking about Rader's voice is the lack of attitudinizing; the brutal scenes he describes (the accidental crushing of a kitten's throat under a child's heel, a rape, a man hiding a dead body in the forest) are presented with respectful care and integrity, finished in language of high gloss... Rader's speaker possess the fragile lucidity of one who encounters the world in all its violence and beauty."
-Linda Besner, The Dominion

“Matt Rader’s Living Things is an astounding, thought-provoking, and visceral collection of poetry...”

-Mike Sloane, Mondo Magazine

“Rader has quickly gone from being a poet to watch to one of the poets to watch.”
-Zachariah Wells, Arc