An Original Literary Portrait · Interview by Nelly Vee
What does it take to create a literary home that lasts? Rick Lupert began with an interest in technology and built a platform that continues to bring poets together.
From early online communities to international readings, the founder of Poetry Super Highway reflects on the people, ideas, and commitments behind his work.
A platform built for other voices
Poetry Super Highway is more than a place to publish. Rick’s reflections reveal what can happen when creative independence and a commitment to community meet. Explore Poetry Super Highway.
Where literary voices meet Metamorphoses
Issue 3, Metamorphoses: Lives in Translation, explores the experiences that move across cultures, languages, and borders. Rick’s work building communities for poets connects naturally with that vision: literature can make space for people to hear one another beyond their immediate circles.
His story speaks to the issue’s central idea: Beyond Labels. Beyond Borders. Connected by Humanity.
In Rick’s own words
THE BEGINNING
Where an idea finds its first audience
Conversation 01
The person behind the platform
Before Poetry Super Highway became part of your life, who was Rick Lupert? What experiences first drew you toward poetry, writing, and creative expression?
As time marches on, I’ve realized, thanks to this question, that Poetry Super Highway has existed for more than half my life and throughout almost my entire involvement with poetry. My involvement with poetry was still pretty new when the website came along. I’d always been attracted to new technologies and their potential. As a high school student, I was part of the BBS community. This was before the publicly accessible internet, where dial-up modems would connect to individual systems…Only one user could be connected at a time to each system, and you’d look at message boards and respond to any messages from other users. The community of people I found through this involvement was a funny and eclectic bunch who fostered an environment in which creativity was encouraged and appreciated. This exposure to culture and observational comedy led me to begin to write down what I was thinking instead of letting it be a fleeting thought. These “writings down” became something I eventually labeled poetry.
Conversation 02
The beginning of a vision
What inspired you to establish Poetry Super Highway? Was there a particular moment, need, or experience that convinced you this platform should exist?
As an early adopter of the internet, having my own website seemed like a natural thing to do. I realized soon after I built it that if anyone was going to visit it more than once, content needed to be constantly changing. This led me to invite my poetry friends and connections to contribute poems to a section I called “Poet of the Week.” I realized quickly that poets are eager for these kinds of opportunities, and these sections of my personal site expanded to a point where I realized it needed to be its own thing. My personal site was separated, and an online publication was born.
Conversation 03
Building something that lasts
Maintaining a literary platform over many years requires dedication. What has kept you committed, especially during challenging periods?
I’m a creature of habit, and I rarely choose to end an experience. I like how history is created as time continues…as weeks turn into months, turn into years. What is generally considered “work” has now become habit and tradition. It’s especially easy during times when my own creative output is less than I want it to be, as keeping Poetry Super Highway running forces a continued connection to the poetry community at large. It’s a constant reminder that always leads back to me creating my own work.
THE COMMUNITY
The people who give a platform its purpose
Conversation 04
Poetry and human connection
What is it about poetry that allows people from different backgrounds, cultures, and experiences to connect?
I think it’s the white space. A poem leaves things out on purpose…and the reader has to climb into those gaps and fill them with their own stuff. So when a Palestinian poet writes about an olive tree, or a Japanese poet writes about cherry blossoms, or a Jewish poet writes about the door we leave open for Elijah, you don’t need their history. You bring your own tree, your own door, and now the poem belongs to both of you. (Possibly to Elijah too…he never tells us what he thinks.)
It’s also the oldest thing we do. Every culture had poetry before it had novels, newspapers, or nations…people were singing their prayers and their heartbreak long before anyone wrote any of it down. Reading each other’s poems taps into something older than whatever we’re arguing about this week. And poetry doesn’t need you to agree with it. It just wants you to listen…which, it turns out, is where connection starts.
Conversation 05
The philosophy of creative expression
Do you believe poetry primarily helps us understand ourselves, understand others, or challenge how we see the world? Has your perspective changed over time?
I think it has the potential to do those things, but poetry is different things to different people. It serves different purposes. Perhaps, primarily, it allows us to filter our world through our own unique perspectives using words as our medium. It also has every right to exist just as art for art’s sake without needing to have a broader purpose.
Conversation 06
The psychology of the writer
Writing often emerges from our experiences, emotions, and observations. How has poetry influenced your understanding of yourself and the people around you?
I’d actually say it works the other way. My understanding of myself and the people (and world) around me directly influences my writing. My writing then offers a direct window into me or at least how my brain works.
THE CREATIVE MIND
Poetry, identity, and the writer’s voice
Conversation 07
Lessons from the journey
Looking back, what have been your most meaningful achievements, unexpected discoveries, or difficult lessons?
Meaningful Achievements: Poetry Super Highway and Cobalt Poets (a weekly open reading on Zoom that grew out of an in-person event I hosted for almost 21 years) have created space and community for writers to share their art. There’s been a leveling of the playing field where everyone gets to say what they want and find legitimacy in their journey as poets. This welcoming space is, I think, my best achievement.
Unexpected Discoveries: That poetry would lead me back to Torah. I never planned to write a poem for every Torah portion, let alone every aliyah in Genesis. But once I started, ancient text turned out to be full of the same absurdities and heartbreak I’d been writing about all along.
Difficult Lessons: It’s not about me.
Conversation 08
The changing literary landscape
Technology has transformed how writers share their work. What changes have you welcomed, and what concerns you about the future of poetry and independent publishing?
When I started Poetry Super Highway in the ’90s, the idea that a poet in Southern California could publish someone in New Zealand the same afternoon felt like magic. It still kind of does. Technology knocked the gates down…you don’t need anyone’s blessing to put out a book, run a reading, or find your people. My weekly Zoom readings have poets from all over the world…so many different and miraculous time zones.
What concerns me is attention. Everyone has a microphone now, and it’s very loud in here. Algorithms reward quick, and poetry asks you to slow down. And now AI can churn out passable verse by the truckload. I’m not too worried it’ll replace poets…I’m worried it’ll bury them. So independent editors and publishers matter more than ever. Somebody has to dig through the pile and hold up the real stuff.
Conversation 09
Your own creative identity
Beyond supporting other poets, how would you describe your personal voice as a writer? Are there themes or questions you repeatedly explore in your poetry?
I perpetually feel like a stranger in a strange land…a bit like an imposter masquerading as human, pointing out observed absurdities and trying to filter them into a relatable human experience. The sensibility goes into hyperdrive when I travel. Most of my books are travel poems written on the go when I’m lucky enough to head somewhere interesting with my wife. She is also the most common theme in my work.
WHAT REMAINS
The work of keeping a literary space alive
Conversation 10
Advice for emerging writers
What would you say to an emerging poet who has something meaningful to express but is uncertain whether their voice deserves to be heard?
Of course their voice deserves to be heard…more importantly, I would suggest the focus not be on what we can accomplish with our writing, but rather that the primary impetus be for the love of doing it. As artists, we are often too caught up in what we can achieve, what validation we can receive, who will shine a light on our work…Truly, that is secondary to what must be a love for engaging in the art form as a creator. I would also encourage them to immerse themselves in other people’s writing. It’s fundamental to constantly expose yourself to people doing the same thing you do…to understand their voice…to learn what you like and don’t like. All of this is the building block to continue to define your own voice as an artist.
Conversation 11
Legacy and the road ahead
When you consider the future of Poetry Super Highway and your own literary journey, what do you hope people will remember about your work and the community you’ve helped build?
I hope people consider my work with a smile…that I made them laugh and they also were able to notice a throughline of depth or humanity surfing along with the funny lines. I hope to continue to do Poetry Super Highway and Cobalt Poets ad infinitum. (I’m working on the technology to continue both after death). I hope people regard both of those platforms as examples of how to foster a community where every voice matters…where we are there equally to share our own work as well as receive the work of others. No one can do this alone.
Explore Rick’s literary world
Poetry, publishing, and literary community
Weekly readings and shared creative voices
Official author website and poetry collections
Poetry in conversation with Jewish traditions
An additional home for poetry
Rick’s poem “Rules for Poetry”
Rick Lupert
Rick Lupert has been involved with poetry in Los Angeles since 1990. He is the recipient of the 2017 Ted Slade Award, and the 2014 Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center Distinguished Service Award, a 4-time Pushcart Prize Nominee, and a Best of the Net nominee. He served as a co-director of the Valley Contemporary Poets for 2 years, and created Poetry Super Highway. Rick hosted the weekly Cobalt Cafe reading for almost 21 years which has lived on as a weekly Zoom series since early 2020. His spoken word album “Rick Lupert Live and Dead” featured 25 studio and live tracks. He’s authored 30 collections of poetry, including “Begin the Beget, A Poem for Every Aliyah in the Book of Genesis,” “High Moose Alert”, “It’s Spritz O’Clock Somewhere,” “The Tokyo-Van Nuys Express,” and “God Wrestler: A Poem for Every Torah Portion” (Ain’t Got No Press) and edited the anthologies “A Poet’s Siddur”, “Ekphrastia Gone Wild”, “A Poet’s Haggadah” and the noir anthology “The Night Goes on All Night.” He also writes and draws (with Brendan Constantine) the daily web comic “Cat and Banana” and writes a Jewish poetry column for JewishJournal.com. He lives in Newhall, California with his wife, son and 3 cats.
