Author Rick Lupert is Sinzibuckwud!

Rick Lupert is the author of over a dozen books, most recently, Sinzibuckwud! inspired by his travels to and from Canada. His books are available on his website, as well as on Amazon. In addition to his many publications, Rick is a generous poet offering five free ebooks on his website Poetry Super Highway.

Lupert has been a staple in the Los Angeles poetry scene and an advocate of poetic expression and performance since 1994. As host of Cobalt Poets every Tuesday in Canoga Park and a pioneer of Poetry Super Highway, he promotes poets worldwide and sponsors several poetry events throughout the year. Rick, who describes the poetry community as largely eclectic, has hosted an astounding number of deserving poets to date and a listing of broadsides can be seen on the Cobalt Poets website.

Reading Rick’s work is much like watching a Seinfeld episode; full of expression, observation and a celebration of life’s absurdities. Lupert’s work incorporates the full spectrum of emotion with humor and perspective taking the reins. Poems such as Japanese day (shown below) bring to light his more compassionate writes while Drinking Coffee, Waiting for My Wife is a mix of love song and quiet narrative which reveals Lupert’s clever sensibility. As a prolific writer who excels at writing from out of his comfort zone, describes most of his books as poetic travelogues.

Rick Lupert is not only an author and advocate for poetry internationally, he is a dedicated figure in the Jewish community. Celebrating through music attributes to many of his most cherished memories. In his collection, I’m a Jew Are You? you will find an array of loosely Jewish-themed poetry. His dedication extends further, having edited A Poet’s Haggadah: Passover through the Eyes of Poets anthology.

In a great deal of Lupert’s work you will find the influence of Richard Brautigan whom Rick associates much of his poetic inspiration to. He also accredits Jeffrey McDaniels, Brendan Constantine, Douglas Adams, Douglas Coupland, Harlan Ellison and not surprising, Monty Python as large influences in his work.

Rick’s advice to poets worldwide is “Don't be afraid to self-publish a collection. Many people seek the validation of someone accepting a body of work but in the end, unless you're fortunate enough to be one of the very small group of poets being published by major publishing houses, with just a little bit of marketing savvy, your book will be at least as successful with you at the helm as it would be coming out on a small press. (The marketing savvy is key here.)”

In our full interview Rick has also kindly offered some resources for poets in Southern California and abroad:

For the most up to date information on poetry links & websites you can sign up for the Poetry Super Highway newsletter.

Poetix is a great source of information about poetry in Southern California for poets, hosts and venues.

Poets and Writers Magazine is an exceptional global resource for contest listings, articles and more.

Winning Writers is also an excellent resource for contests workshops and for information about where to submit your work.

Please take a moment to enjoy the following selected poems of Rick Lupert.

Underground City

You can be underground for
weeks in Montreal, never without food,
never without a place to shop
never coming up for outside air.

Unlike in Los Angeles where the
underground is occupied by roots
and failed basements.
Where if the palm trees don’t
see you outside they
will miss you. They
will call your mother.

(From "Sinzibuckwud!")
Rick Lupert © 2011

*Native Americans discovered 'sinzibuckwud', the Algonquin word for maple syrup, meaning literally 'drawn from wood'.

Japanese Day

Today at the Japanese American
National Museum, we were served

expensive tea and complained
that the other table had chocolate

dessert instead of the banana walnut
we were brought.

Today in Japan a wave washed a house away
ten thousand times.

Rick Lupert © 2011

Drinking Coffee, Waiting for My Wife by Rick Lupert

Read the full author interview: Edgar & Lenore's Publishing House