On the Road to the Writing Life

Trucker and poet Matt Doherty '95 cruises to publication.

By Pamela Reponen

When he entered the Atlantic Monthly essay contest, Matthew Doherty '95 hoped to win a subscription to the magazine. Instead, he won first prize. The English degree he had earned at Holy Cross set the stage for this award. However, the subject matter was a bit different from what people might have expected. The nonfiction piece that Doherty submitted recounted "the life and times of a truck-driving poet." 

Throughout high school Doherty had experimented with writing, mostly penning poems. His entrance to Holy Cross in the fall of 1991 allowed him to continue this pursuit. The variety of courses available enabled him to explore various genres in great depth. He credits the school as a whole and the English department in particular for providing him with a strong foundation and the skills to create quality work. 

Robert Cording, English professor and published poet, was the first in a series of significant and informative teachers Doherty would have in his four years at the College. This first course so impacted Doherty that he took three additional classes with Cording. In addition to teaching, Cording facilitated a poetry workshop for the students. His strong affinity for this genre led Doherty to apply for entrance. "I had to submit a few poems for review before being accepted," he says. His admission to the club gave him the "external confirmation that [he] was good." 

Doherty's positive experiences with Cording were further enhanced by Professor Anne Bernays who provided solid groundwork in the American novel. "She is a really great teacher," he says. Once again, the exposure to a high-quality professor encouraged him to enroll in Bernays' fiction writing class. Even though his first love is poetry, Doherty thought that adding this genre would round out his literary experience. He never regretted it. "When I took that class, I learned how to write." 

Doherty continued his literary training with yet another outstanding English educator at Holy Cross. Professor Justin Kaplan, Pulitzer Prize winner for his biography of Mark Twain, proved to be one of his most influential mentors. "It was such a privilege to be in his class. That was where I really learned how to read." Bernays, Kaplan and Cording provided invaluable help in directing Doherty toward his ultimate goal. "These professors are very good at teaching. It is obvious that they like to teach. Besides the academics, they have all been widely published." 

Postgraduation plans to obtain a master of fine arts degree in poetry were waylaid when Doherty missed the admissions deadline for graduate school. With undergraduate work behind him and heavy school loans and an uncertain future weighing upon him, he had to find an alternate strategy. Returning to the family home in Scituate, Mass., held no appeal nor did living in an expensive city apartment. He began to brainstorm ways to pay off his debts and save some money in order to pursue his M.F.A. 

 "I'm not really sure where I got the idea to drive a truck. I had always liked to drive, especially long distances. On spring break my friends and I would drive from one climate to another. That was pretty cool," he says. From this small spark-regarded by some as a joke-was born the idea to become a truck driver. "I knew that truckers made good money," Doherty says. He thought this might be the answer to his financial dilemma and admits that the desire to find the "myth of truck driving" may also have prompted his decision. "I thought I would have time to think and write," he says. Making the decision to invest $4,000 tuition for trucker school, he began his journey. 

It didn't take long though for Doherty to realize that any romantic notions he had entertained about life on the road were overblown. Very often he would spend two-to-three weeks "over the road"-trucker lingo for the regular runs that truck drivers must make. He recalled sometimes feeling like a taxi driver. "I would pick up freight at one place, deliver it and then do it all over again. It's very hard to be creative when you're driving that much. In fact, just writing notes or keeping a journal is hard to do when you are living out of a truck." 

Doherty attempted to write a novel when he first "hit the road." The long hours and grueling schedule, however, drained his creative energy. "The chapters were too hokey," he says. "Fiction about life on the road was definitely not working." He believes that it is difficult to write fiction "as something you really know. Fiction has to be free to tell things completely differently." In his case, he was too close to the situations to translate them successfully to paper. He decided to shelve the idea of writing fiction until later. His shift to nonfiction "took great pains" but the results have been more rewarding. 

The year and a half that Doherty spent hauling freight from one end of the country to the other was "an education in itself." However, some of the experiences were harrowing to say the least. His close encounter with a four-wheeler "flying like a cornerback coming at me" provided a life lesson that could have had disastrous results. Doherty's quick reflexes and level-headed reaction avoided serious injury to both the other driver and him. After the collision he expected to find minor damages to his vehicle. To his surprise, his truck wound up with a mangled fuel tank that was leaking diesel and a missing drive tire. His concern for the truck dissipated at the sight of the still figure of the other driver. Fortunately his injuries were not life-threatening. Nevertheless, the incident shook Doherty. "The whole scene was ethereal. It is strange how everything in your life changes when you are in the middle of something so serious. I was very glad that the other guy didn't die. What I had done worked out perfectly," he says. Doherty had once joked that he would be a success at truck driving if he didn't kill anyone. Somehow he didn't find the statement quite as funny now.

In the fall of 1997 Doherty began taking graduate classes at the University of Alabama. The absence of long-distance driving enabled Doherty to return to the business of writing. He has found that living in an apartment instead of in the cab of an 18-wheeler allows him to concentrate on his craft again, including fiction. 

In order to fulfill requirements for his degree, Doherty must complete a book-length manuscript. He has reverted to his first writing love-poetry-for this assignment. He is in the process of creating a series of poems about an imaginary character living at the fictional Albian Hotel. Doherty finds that at times this fictional character assumes some truck driver attributes. His inspiration for this particular style comes from John Berryman, a poet who died in 1972. His book Dream Songs is one of Doherty's favorites. The volume contains 385 songs/poems that begin as letters from a man named Henry to his cleaning lady, which "morph into poems." 

Doherty's other literary influences include John Steinbeck, Jack Kerouac and William Faulkner. "Kerouac influences you even if you haven't read him," he said, referring to his driving experiences. "But Steinbeck actually wrote of the myth of the road even before Kerouac did. I see a striking similarity between truck-driving episodes and events in Steinbeck's Travels with Charlie." Doherty is referencing Steinbeck's novel that relates a cross-country trip he takes with his dog in 1960. Even though Steinbeck is not considered cutting-edge by some, his style continues to inspire Doherty. 

He credits his "lucky break" to Professor George Wolfe of the University of Alabama. "Wolfe handed out the entry forms for the contest to the whole class. I never expected to become the winner," he says. Besides having his story published in the Atlantic Monthly, Doherty received a $1,000 cash prize. He hopes that this national exposure will lead to some agency contacts. He is aware that agents do not typically deal with poetry but he still hopes to get his thesis published. "It helps when the Atlantic Monthly vouches for you," he says. 

Now that he has broken into the world of publishing, Doherty is considering his future. "I have two options. I can work really hard or just quit and let people wonder what might have been." After a short pause, Doherty says, "I think I'll continue writing." 

The closing sentence of his award-winning essay is 178 words long. "That sentence is a joke, a nod to Faulkner. He invented those kinds of sentences and also made them obsolete. When you imitate Faulkner, you have to do it with a wink. That sentence actually mimics the lack of closure to the story," he says. 

His goal is to tie together his "over the road" experiences into a successful book. "Once I do that, I will throw away the keys. There will be no sequel." Doherty intends to incorporate both nonfiction prose and poetry into a new volume on a different subject, possibly dealing with Worcester. 

In the summer of 1998, Doherty returned to truck driving, but on a scaled-back schedule. Now he drives a mere 38-hour run on the weekends delivering Mercedes SUV parts from Tuscaloosa, Ala., to Battle Creek, Mich. Doherty does not see himself as a career truck driver. "That life can be very boring and unhappy," he says, "but it would be nice if I could continue driving for just a little while after graduation. Hopefully I will have a book contract by then." 

Between his "over the road" experiences, his excellent preparation by topnotch inspirational scholars at Holy Cross and his recent acclaim from the Atlantic Monthly, whatever his future holds, Doherty appears to be driving his career down a promising road.