Poetry’s Place in the Internet Age: An Interview with Matthew Zapruder

In this video clip, BookBaby president Brian Felsen interviews award-winning poet and editor Matthew Zapruder about the place of poetry in the internet age, and how the experience of hearing and reading poetry will become more meaningful in our lives even as the internet (as an “enemy of the kind of consciousness that poems can produce”) creates a greater distance between the space of poetry and the rest of life.

As Wallace Stevens said, “The role of the poet is to help people live their lives.” As our lives become more anxious and distract-able, we’re going to need more and more help.

What do you think? In a world where your smartphone is beeping and buzzing at you every 12 seconds, can poetry (and literature in general) still help us enter the space of negative capability? Let us know in the comments section below.

Also, watch the complete interview with Matthew Zapruder here:

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About Chris Robley

Chris Robley has written 369 posts in this blog.

Chris Robley splits his time between the Portlands Oregon and Maine, always longing for the other. He plays music on the West Coast and writes poems on the East. His music has been praised by NPR, the LA Times, the Boston Globe, and others. Skyscraper Magazine said he is “one of the best short-story musicians to come along in quite some time.” Robley’s poetry is forthcoming in Prairie Schooner, RHINO, Pacifica Literary Review, and The Fine Line.

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