What began as poet Matthew Zapruder’s attempt to share the process of writing a poem has become a literary project unlike any he anticipated. The result, his new book Story of a Poem, is uniquely vulnerable and emotive while taking its readers along for a poetic ride. Zapruder, whose poem “Sunflower” appears in Alta Journal’s Issue 23, sits down with Alta Live and guest moderator, writer Steve Almond, to talk about his work, examine the process of poetry, and answer your questions.
About the guest:
Matthew Zapruder is the author of five collections of poetry, most recently Father’s Day (Copper Canyon, 2019), as well as two books of prose, Why Poetry (Ecco, 2017) and Story of a Poem (Unnamed, 2023). He is the editor at large at Wave Books, where he edits contemporary poetry, prose, and translations. From 2016–17 he held the annually rotating position of editor of the poetry column for the New York Times Magazine and was the editor of Best American Poetry 2022. He teaches in the MFA in Creative Writing program at Saint Mary’s College of California.
About the book:
Matthew Zapruder had an idea: to write a poem as slowly and intentionally as possible, to preserve its drafts, and record the painstaking, elusively transcendent stuff of its construction. It would be the capstone to a new collection of poetry and a means to process modern American life in a time of COVID, megafires, and sobriety. What Zapruder didn’t anticipate was that this literary project would trigger a deeply personal aspect as well: a way to resolve the unexplored pain and unexpected joys he was confronting in the wake of his son’s diagnosis with autism. The result is a remarkable piece of writing, one that explores not just what it means to be a poet but also what it means to be alive during the Anthropocene—to be on this planet during this extraordinary time.
By comparing the writing of a poem with his own tangled evolution as a son, husband, and father, Zapruder unfolds moments of his own life in the reflection of an increasingly uncanny world. With a wide range of reference points—from Celan, Li Bai, and Frank O’Hara to Whitman, Merwin, and Rupi Kaur—we join Zapruder on a poet’s journey that, in some alchemy of literature, becomes a journey of our own. Ultimately, the poet asks us to join with him in the search for a crucial answer. In his words: “What world can we imagine, and then make, where we all can live?”
With Story of a Poem, celebrated poet Matthew Zapruder offers a personal, deeply unguarded examination of a poet’s eternal struggle to transform a moment of feeling into verse, as well as a subtle and enthralling road map to the practice of poetry and finding its threads in everyday life.
About the moderator:
Steve Almond is the author of 12 books of fiction and nonfiction, including Candyfreak and Against Football. You can check those out here. His recent books include William Stoner and the Battle for the Inner Life, which is about reading and writing and the struggle to pay attention to our lives, and Bad Stories, a literary investigation of the 2016 election.
Most recently, Almond’s novel All the Secrets of the World was released in 2022.
For four years, Almond hosted the New York Times Dear Sugars podcast with his pal Cheryl Strayed. His short stories have been anthologized widely, in the Best American Short Stories, The Pushcart Prize, Best American Erotica, and Best American Mysteries series. He also publishes crazy DIY books.
