M A Schmidt

When M A Schmidt realised he already had the right letters in his name, he dropped out of college.  He decided that this version of his name would be a good pen name after seeing it printed on his Visa Classic. Something to be proud of. The initials stand for Mateusz Andrzej and are his Polish names. That’s because he’s Polish. He’s lived in English-speaking countries for a while though and often goes by the short name of Mat. This not only alludes to his gentle Polish accent, but more importantly it harks back to a memorable quote from Shogun with Richard Chamberlain. When Richard’s character is offered a nocturnal companion by his host, she is described as ‘good on the mat.’ M A Schmidt is not very particular, though. A lifelong supporter of matte prints for his photos (well, when he still had a 35mm film camera), he doesn’t mind being called Matte. So long as you don’t rhyme it with latte.

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I (for it is I, who has heretofore written of him-my-self in the polite but tiresome third person) am writing a book called A Click of the Tongue.

It tells two stories.

One is about my dad: his childhood before WW2, his boyish games and passions and experiences and how, through the passage of time and exposure to war in Poland, they crystallise into his adult self. I leave him as a young jazz musician and music presenter in Stalinist Poland.

The other story is my love letter to him, so distant now and so old. We talk about his childhood. We discover how his memory changes and how new details pop up in it after I read to him some of that first story. We also discuss his later career as a jazz educator, as well as my own childhood, and in so doing we outline a very personal take on Poland, on memory, distance, hope, and displacement.