S.H. Zumwalt
| S.H. Zumwalt | |
|---|---|
 Zumwalt Z logo 2026 01.png | |
| Born | 1955-05-10 |
| 🏳️ Nationality | United States |
| Other names | Zumwalt |
| 💼 Occupation | Poet |
| 🌐 Website | https://zumpoems.com |
S.H. Zumwalt (born May 10, 1955), best known as Zumwalt, is an American poet who has been published in numerous journals with a dedicated website, zumpoems.com, run by an anonymous friend.
Early Life
Due to Zumwalt's proclivity for privacy, very little is known about his early life. It is conjectured that he grew up in Orange County, California, either in Brea or Fullerton, or possibly Yorba Linda.
The little we do know about Zumwalt's early life is from interviews, but it is unclear to what degree Zumwalt's answers to interview questions are performative or factual. For example, when he was asked by Zoetic Press, "What first motivated you to write/create art?", he responded with " I came across a box of crayons at the age of three. None of them tasted very good, but I found they made marks on the wall. It was then that I was hooked. Crayons, paint, pencils, pens, typewriters, and ultimately keyboards, all became means of expression."
Born in 1955, and growing up in southern California at a time of explosive economic growth, technological advances, and growing social ferment, Zumwalt, like most boomers, was shaped by the highs and lows of the tumultuous times he lived in, experiencing such things as the divisiveness of the Vietnam war, the triumph of the first moon landing, and the enormity of disco. Yet even as he was a part of his time, his poetry frequently exhibits an alienation from it, expressing frequent themes of social decline, a distrust—some might say an elitist disdain—for the wisdom of the common man, and a foreboding at the inexorable mechanization, automation, and digitalization of society and human existence. Some observers, usually off-the-record, have conjectured that Zumwalt started out as an angry young man and over time seamlessly transitioned to disagreeable old man.
Career
Zumwalt's "journey on the road to oblivion", as he puts it, began in 1973 with the publication of the landmark poem "Trilogy of the Oblique Carbide" in the now-defunct Good Humor Literary Magazine, which also published his poem, "Alizarian Grand Slam."
He had several poems published in a small journal printed out of Canning's Brea Hardware store, though Mr. Canning stipulated that the publication should not be associated with his store. It is not clear how many issues of this journal were printed, or how many copies of each issue, or how many of Zumwalt poems were included, though the few surviving copies do indicate at least six poems were published.
Zumwalt continued to write poetry, on and off, and in 2011, he provided copies of dozens of his poems to be published on his friend's website, zumpoems.com, named after the poet. The website functioned as both a digital archive of a significant portion of Zumwalt's poems, though apparently much of his work has been either discarded by the poet or unintentionally lost. zumpoems.com serves to distribute those pieces expressly permissioned by the author. This includes the 1973 debut, surviving poems from 1974 and 1975, as well as a larger cache of published and unpublished material written after 1975.
Private Life
Little is known about Zumwalt's personal life, due to his apparently obsessive-compulsive desire for privacy. Quotes of his are included at zumpoems.com, and these provide some insight into his philosophy on art and writing.
Zumwalt apparently either studied music with John Cage briefly in Europe, or had enough direct conversation with the composer to have been influenced by him. Zumwalt also had some contact with Aaron Copland and significant contact with Nicholas Slonimsky. Zumwalt has also stated that he learned the basics of theater acting from Virginia Cummings, who shared the stage with Bette Davis and for whom the Virginia Cummings Acting Scholarship is named.
Themes recurring in his poetry suggest Zumwalt has a strong interest in history and a working knowledge of computer science, but whether this is the mark of an autodidact or, on the other hand, hints at some formal training in those fields is presently unknown.
Quotes
“The most important requirement of any poem is that it ends before the reader goes on to something else.”
“... a poem is a piece of information, it is not knowledge, and it is not, intrinsically, of value.”
“What anyone makes of a poem is always much more relevant and meaningful than what any poem is made of. The real artist and creative force is the reader, not the poet.”
“Poets that write about the most trivial things, whether they know it or not, write about the most important things. That’s why it makes sense to write poetry about poetry.”
“Personal growth does not start with the act of seeking improvement, but with improving the act of seeking.”
“If the world was full of only reporters, seems that there would be little to report on; but, if the world was full of only legislators, laws would be needed more than ever. Unfortunately, there would be no one around to enforce them.”
"Today is the first day of the upcoming past that you can change." “I have utter disdain for the arrogant. The only purpose of their existence is to remind me of my superiority over each and every one of them.”
"It is only through heart break and loss can we appreciate the advantages of personal mortality."
"The problem with the oft-quoted 'If you love something, set it free. If it comes back, it is yours. If it doesn’t, it never was.' is that it doesn’t take into account the object of affection getting lost or hit by a semi-truck.
"There is no end to those things that have no beginning."
"Opinions are only as good as the evidence supporting them, otherwise we would allow our kids to have the belief that chocolate ice cream is a vegetable."
“To be even inadequately prepared for battle, you have to fight a few first.”
“The more we look, the more to see: altering this reality.”
"The one advantage of growing old is you have enough time to dream up one advantage of growing old."
"The one disadvantage of growing old is you have enough time to dream up all the disadvantages of growing old."
"Inspiration is heartily welcome until it keeps you from going to sleep at three in the morning."
"My first lesson on how good fortune can reverse without warning was when our third grade teacher got the inspiration one morning to have our class give our oral book reports in reverse alphabetical order."
“When art imitates life by eating and reproducing, we are in trouble.”
References
About Zumwalt “Elegy for a close attachment” at New Verse News November 2025 “Jousting Windmills” at New Verse News December 2025 “Travel Advisory: Sector 4, May 15, 2058” at Larina’s Lit Lounge January 2026 “take this” at Ink Sweat & Tears January 2026 “Grēnland unfæst (Greenland off-balance)” at New Verse News January 2026 “Faceoff on Facebook” and “The Handcuff King” at The Good Man Project January 2026 https://com“Interstate Nocturne” at Commuter Lit February 2026muterlit.com/2026/02/tuesday-interstate-nocturne/ “A Blot Upon Thee” at New Verse News February 2026 “Over the Counter” and “What am I?” at The Good Men Project February 2026 “Limerick to Help Forget the War for a Moment” at New Verse News March 2026 “Cycle of Song” at The Society of Classical Poets March 2026 “Deepwater Portfolio” at New Verse News April 2026 “Ogun’s Toolboth” at Bewildering Stories, Issue 1133 April 2026 “Algos for the Soul” at Bewildering Stories, Issue 1135 April 2026 “Sermon From The Central Datacenter” at Euphemism Issue 21.2 May 2026 “Rite of Greed” at Euphemism Issue 21.2 May 2026 Artificial Analysis at New Verse News May 2026 Elegy for a close attachment (original version) at MasticadoresUsa May 2026 Out of Schlitz at Light May 2026 They Walk Among Us at New Verse News June 2026 Our Free Union at New Verse News July 2026 Sermon from the Central Datacenter and Algos for the souls at The Good Men Project July 2026 The Threat of Virtue at The Society of Classical Poets July 2026 Optional at 4LPH4NUM3R1C2.0 July 2026
