"Story of a Poem is the luminous, lyrical meditation on wringing
beauty from suffering and air, threaded with a singular, moving story
about parenting an atypical child. I read it in a single gulp, and you
will too." --Mary Karr, Bestselling author of The Liars' Club and
Cherry
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 end cap to a new collection of poetry, and a means to process
modern American life in a time of political turmoil, mega fires, and
sobriety. What Zapruder didn't anticipate was that this literary project
would reveal 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 and father, but also what it means to be
alive on this planet during this turbulent and 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 roadmap to the practice of poetry and finding
its threads in everyday life.
