Come on All You Ghosts

"Charming, melancholy, hip."--"Publishers Weekly," starred review

"Zapruder's innovative style is provocative in its unusual juxtapositions of line, image and enjambments. . . . Highly recommended."--"Library Journal"

Matthew Zapruder's third book mixes humor and invention with love and loss, as when the breath of a lover is compared to "a field of titanium gravestones / growing warmer in the sun." The title poem is an elegy for the heroes and mentors in the poet's life--from David Foster Wallace to the poet's father. Zapruder's poems are direct and surprising, and throughout the book he wrestles with the desire to do well, to make art, and to face the vast events of the day.

"Look out scientists! Today the unemployment rate

is 9.4 percent. I have no idea what that means. I tried

to think about it harder for a while. Then

tried standing in an actual stance of mystery

and not knowing towards the world.

Which is my job. As is staring at the back yard

and for one second believing I am actually

rising away from myself. Which is maybe

what I have in common right now with you . . . "

Matthew Zapruder holds degrees from Amherst College, UC Berkeley, and the University of Massachusetts. He is the author of two previous books, including "The Pajamaist," which won the William Carlos Williams Award and was honored by "Library Journal" with a "Best Poetry Book of the Year" listing. He lives in San Francisco and is an editor at Wave Books.