Kevin Zepper

Oyster River Pages: Who are the writers who have made you who you are? 
Kevin Zepper: I believe Patti Smith has influenced me most. She is a poet/musician/photographer. I was introduced to her writing and music when I was a teenager. She never ceases to fill my head with wonder and my heart with inspiration.

ORP: What are the lenses that shape your worldview? 
KZ: Hmm. Tough one. I believe the arts are my lens, more photography and the visual these days.

ORP: What’s the most important thing you’ve seen lately? 
KZ: I recently read an article about the four kinds of chance and how level is based on personal experience and knowledge.

ORP: What’s your least favorite word? Why? 
KZ: Can’t

ORP: What’s your favorite thing that you’ve created?
KZ: My current work with a musician performing original poetry and classical music. We call ourselves “Lines&Notes.” I am proud of the collective work we’ve collaboratively created.

ORP: What do you want to read more of in the world? 
KZ: Currently, I’d like to see more tolerance in the world.

ORP: How do you pay it forward? 
KZ: My students are important to me. I try to support them in any way I possibly can.

ORP: What is the space that has shaped you the most? 
KZ: Although I live in the plains, desert has shaped me most. In the freedom of dry expanse, there is a quickening of sorts and a loneliness, though I never feel alone. There is something about the landscape, that geographical space, that is a creative wellspring for me.

ORP: You’ve just written your autobiography. What’s the title?
KZ: Hmmm. Autobiography. I don’t know if I’ve done that much to write an autobiography. Too many possible titles: Beyond Sleepwalking, Sidelines, Footnotes: A Creative Journey

Kevin Zepper is a Professor at Minnesota State University Moorhead. He has published four chapbooks of poetry, Sugartown, (Finishing Line Press), I Bring You Dead Things (Blue Light Press), (Suffering From) An Apartment Complex (Plan B Press) and The Fifth Ramone (Dacotah Territory Press). His recent work has appeared in The Prose Poem Project, Slow Train Journal, Talking Stick, and Lake Region Review. He is one half of the performance duo Lines&Notes, a collaboration of music and poetry. Zepper's photos have appeared in print or online in the following publications: Red Weather, Inscape, Minnesota Portage, Her's Anthology (Beatlick Press), Drowning Gull (Sea Salt Series) and Barking Sycamore.  Check out Kevin's work Antigua Cathedral Arch from Issue 1 here.