[2] At the time of his death he was a professor of English and director of the creative writing program at City College of New York.
During his 27 years as an author, Matthews received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
In 1980, Matthews was the poet in residence at The Frost Place in Franconia, New Hampshire, and in 1997 he was a recipient of the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize.
Frequent subjects in his writing are the early years of professional basketball and historical Jazz figures.
Matthews believed that poetry should have subject matter, so as to provide the substance needed for the art to fulfill its function.