It may very well be that we have entered another time when most poets will feel compelled to use poetry to stop… — Matthew Zapruder Copy Share Image
I wanted to write not exclusively for (or against) poets or scholars, though many of them are people, too! But that was… — Matthew Zapruder Copy Share Image
That choice to be ready to reject all other purposes, in favor of the possibilities of language freed from utility, is when… — Matthew Zapruder Copy Share Image
That name, SUN BEAR, just sounds like an ideogram to me. Super resonant. By the way, this all might be related to… — Matthew Zapruder Copy Share Image
It is funny, and also a bit sad, that poets are so often asked to justify our vocation. There seems to be… — Matthew Zapruder Copy Share Image
I think it is our job as poets to refuse the terms that society so often sets for usefulness. That, for instance,… — Matthew Zapruder Copy Share Image
I'm more than a little suspicious of humor in poems, because I think it can at times be a way of getting… — Matthew Zapruder Copy Share Image
I've noticed that there can be a visceral reaction to strong statements about poetry, as if anyone who has an opinion and… — Matthew Zapruder Copy Share Image
That is a horrible thing in a way, but it is the one thing poets can bring back to experience, this intense… — Matthew Zapruder Copy Share Image
There is all this stuff about how sensitive poets are and how in touch with feelings, etc. they are, but really all… — Matthew Zapruder Copy Share Image
That being said, some of my favorite poets are extremely funny. The aforementioned Matt Rohrer, for instance. Mary Ruefle. James Tate might… — Matthew Zapruder Copy Share Image
I've always been more than a little mystified by poets who seem to think talking to people as directly as possible is… — Matthew Zapruder Copy Share Image
I personally believe the role of poets as poets (which is something different from our obligations as citizens, community members, humans) is… — Matthew Zapruder Copy Share Image
It is funny, and also a bit sad, that poets are so often asked to justify our vocation. There seems to be something vaguely… — Matthew Zapruder Copy Share
The question does arise if how and why to write poetry in this time. It feels both completely essential and also quite difficult. But… — Matthew Zapruder Copy Share
That name, SUN BEAR, just sounds like an ideogram to me. Super resonant. By the way, this all might be related to Tomaž Šalamun's… — Matthew Zapruder Copy Share
Music and songs have always been a constant part of my life, and still are. My brother Michael, who is a songwriter and composer,… — Matthew Zapruder Copy Share
My own experience as a reader and writer has been that the more I read, and the more I live, the more different "types"… — Matthew Zapruder Copy Share
Thinking in prose is different. I gained an immense amount of respect for people who write prose, and also felt even more sure that… — Matthew Zapruder Copy Share
Something can be symbolic without being a mere stand-in or vessel, which just brings us away from the true mystery and dread, into some… — Matthew Zapruder Copy Share
It may very well be that we have entered another time when most poets will feel compelled to use poetry to stop things from… — Matthew Zapruder Copy Share
The speaker tentatively reaches out with that feeling and realizes that it's kind of absurd, or at least a dangerous consolation, which is what… — Matthew Zapruder Copy Share
I've noticed that there can be a visceral reaction to strong statements about poetry, as if anyone who has an opinion and expresses it… — Matthew Zapruder Copy Share
Somewhere back a whiskey or so ago I wrote that thinking was a real thing in the world, just like anything else. I mean… — Matthew Zapruder Copy Share
If freedom in the imagination is a privilege, it's one I believe everyone should have, as a basic human right. I also believe that… — Matthew Zapruder Copy Share
So for whatever reason those short lines just felt right to me, in my physical self. They were right for the movement of the… — Matthew Zapruder Copy Share
I wanted to write not exclusively for (or against) poets or scholars, though many of them are people, too! But that was not my… — Matthew Zapruder Copy Share
Reading a poem is a real thing, a worthy thing. So to be there right with the reader at that moment is part of… — Matthew Zapruder Copy Share
