Who the...?
...hell is this guy? Hopefully you'll take a few minutes to read on and find out. The short version is, I'm a man in love with the tongue-driven music of short, sharp breaths and the transformative power of the word when it written, read and SPOKEN.
It all began in 1974....
With an Alice Cooper concert and hippie parents.
But that's a different story.
A performance poet since 2006, Zachary Kluckman is a member of Albuquerque’s 2012 National Poetry Slam Team, a Pushcart Prize nominee, and recipient of the Red Mountain Press Poetry Prize.
His work appears in print globally in such publications as the New York Quarterly and Cutthroat, as well as numerous anthologies. His written work has been nominated for numerous prizes including the Pushcart, Best of the Net and more. He has won several poetry contests as well as the Red Mountain Press Poetry Prize and has been awarded residencies as a result of his work on the page.
Featured on over 500 radio stations, with appearances on many of the nation’s most notorious stages, he is an accomplished spoken word artist and musical collaborator. As one of the founding members of Zen Broken, he works with Jason Maggioncalda to create a blend of music and spoken word that has been compared favorably to Pink Floyd and 900 Foot Jesus.
Serving as an editor for several journals, including the Pedestal and Artistica, is also an avid activist, youth advocate, community developer and organizer who has twice been recognized for making world history. He is the creator of the world's only Slam Poet Laureate Program and an organizer for the 100 Thousand Poets for Change program, the largest poetry reading in history.
As a youth advocate, Kluckman donates hundreds of hours a year to working with youth to hone their writing and stage craft, using poetry as a transformative tool for self-empowerment.
Kluckman lives in Albuquerque, NM with his four children and travels around the nation for performances, workshops, event planning and musical collaboration.