Zachary Kluckman

Blocks of all narrative

“What we need are more people who specialize in the impossible” – Theodore Roethke

“Every secret of a writer’s soul, every experience of his life, every quality of his mind, is written large in his works” – Virginia Woolf

Biography

Zachary Kluckman is a multi-award-winning poet and spoken word artist, mental health advocate and community organizer, as well as the proud father of 4. He has been a nationally ranked slam poet and received the 2014 Slam Poet of the Year Award from the National Poetry Awards, as well as 2 nominations for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. In 2023, he was one of three Finalists for the Subnivean Poetry Award judged by Kazim Ali.

With a long history of grassroots organizing and activism, Kluckman has worked to incorporate poetry as a therapeutic tool for survivors of human trafficking, youth offenders, the justice involved community, the recovery community, students, immigrants and many more. As a person with lived experience who has been in recovery for over 24 years, Kluckman devotes much of his time to suicide prevention, substance abuse outreach and mental health advocacy. Recently, these efforts include developing sober spaces within the poetry community as well.

As an educator and public speaker, Kluckman has presented poetry and talks to a wide array of audiences, ranging from Psychosocial Rehabilitation conferences and Higher Education conferences to students and learners of all ages. He has worked as a Slam team coach and mentor for many artists over the last two decades and has been recognized as a Gold Medal Poetry Teacher by the Scholastic Arts & Writing Awards for this work.

Kluckman has been recognized multiple times for his work as a community organizer, including twice winning the National Poetry Award for Best Slam Organizer and receiving another recognition from the Weekly Alibi’s Best of the City Awards. He was twice involved in events that made world history as well; once as one of the original organizers of the 100 Thousand Poets for Change event in its first 2 years, now recognized as the largest poetry reading in the world. Kluckman served as the New Mexico State Director for this event. He is also the creator of the Albuquerque Slam Poet Laureate Program, which laid the groundwork for the city’s current Poet Laureate program.

Kluckman also served as the Festival Coordinator for the Verse~Converse Poetry Festival in Taos, New Mexico. He was the Educational Director for the Voices Emerging, New Thunder Middle School State Poetry Competition and is currently the Founder of the Chicharra Poetry Festival, which will launch in 2024. In addition, he has served on the Board for the Southern Fried Poetry Festival and the New Mexico State Poetry Society. He is the founder of MindWell Poetry, an organization seeking to develop and promote safe spaces for those in recovery and those who have experienced marginalization due to their mental health, identity, or experiences.

His poems have appeared in print worldwide in numerous publications, including the New York Quarterly, Cutthroat, New Writing Scotland, Stoneboat, Mud Season Review, Sin Fronteras, Blue Earth Review, Oddville Press, The Lamplighter Review, Going Down Swinging, Bottom of the World, Malpais Review, Contemporary Literary Review: India, Cause & Effect and many more. His work has been widely anthologized in multiple countries and his published writing has included freelance journalism, fiction, and book reviews.

As a spoken word artist, Kluckman as appeared around the world, both in person and through media outlets. With appearances on more than 500 radio stations, numerous televised readings, and multiple videos online, Kluckman’s work has reached hundreds of thousands of people around the world. He has also appeared on both the National Poetry Slam and Individual World Poetry Slam stages, as well as giving numerous live performances in almost every state within North America.

Zachary Kluckman is the author of three collections of poetry: Rearview Funhouse (Eyewear Publishing 2022), Some of It is Muscle (Swimming with Elephants Publications LLC, 2013) which was a finalist in the New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards and The Animals in Our Flesh (Red Mountain Press, 2012), winner of the inaugural Red Mountain Press National Poetry Prize.