After showing his mom, Kay McConaughey, his poem, “She was like, 'eh,'" he recalls. “She pulled another [professionally written poem] out and goes, ‘How about this?’”Young Matthew nodded: “I said, it's good.”“She says, ‘Write that,’” says Matthew, recalling initial confusion. So, straight plagiarism.”Kay McConaughey, Matthew McConaughey and Levi McConaughey on the cover of PEOPLE. Ari & LouiseBut poetry stayed with him, and Matthew continued to write as a young adult and throughout his years in the spotlight. The book also includes little wisdoms from his three children with wife Camila Alves McConaughey; son Levi, 17 (who plays his onscreen son in The Lost Bus), daughter Vida, 15, and younger son Livingston, 12.