It has been a long time since I read a poetry book. This book, “I Love Hearing Your Dreams” has a variety of poems that caused different emotions for me. Some poems were fantastic and created amazing imagery. Other poems I felt almost nothing about as the words didn’t form an image or story in my mind. This is an interesting take on modern poetry outside of the well known poets. Some of these poems could easily be used in a poetry class to teach students about imagery. Overall a decent book.

From his book, Why Poetry, Matthew Zapruder writes, it is “…in poetry that we see most clearly and powerfully, without any other ultimate distraction, how language can be made deliberately strange, how it becomes especially ‘a difficult, roughened, impeded language,’ in order to jar us awake.”

Emily Dickinson also wrote, “If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry. These are the only ways I know it. Is there any other way?” When I read Zapruder’s poetry, I often experience that air-like sensation suddenly brushing the top of my mind. It makes me, as he says, awake. The poet has made familiar terrains strange, arriving at something previously not considered.

In his latest collection, I Love Hearing Your Dreams, he takes his own advice and works the strange through ever more layered and unexpected turns. Each poem is a small adventure. A collection of scenes; vignettes, seemingly unrelated until you come to a line that ties everything together. You feel you've been somewhere. You had an experience and arrived slightly changed.

“Tourmaline” is a wonderful example, beginning with: Tourmaline “is a stone some say / helps put a feverish child / to sleep…” Near the end: we “…lie down / in the street with everyone” with our “…ear pressed to the asphalt / listening for further instructions”.

Zapruder’s poems do not end in moralizing summation or bring us to easy conclusions. Mostly, they leave us at another jumping off point, more awake and open to what comes next.

Thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for the ARC.

A stunning cover for an okay poetry collection. Most of the poems carry a hefty amount of nostalgia, a longing for the comfort of the past, even when those memories start to get hazy with time. Some do it well, but it starts to get monotonous after a while.

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Matthew Zapruder’s I Love Hearing Your Dreams is an ethereal, hauntingly beautiful collection that delves into the fragmented, often surreal terrain of dreams while holding a mirror to the complexities of 21st-century life. Known for his playful yet deeply resonant poetic voice, Zapruder crafts a book that feels both deeply personal and broadly relatable, capturing the disillusionment, hope, and searching that defines our current moment.

The opening poem sets the tone for what’s to come: “Your dreams / have no hidden / agenda to be wise / they are made / to be forgotten / so something / can be known.” This line encapsulates the collection’s central theme—the idea that dreams, far from being cryptic sources of wisdom, are places where life’s forgotten fragments rise to the surface, allowing us to make sense of our waking reality. Zapruder’s poems are filled with these delicate truths, revealed through moments of introspection, humor, and melancholy.

The title itself, I Love Hearing Your Dreams, suggests intimacy and vulnerability, as if the poet is not just a witness to his own dreams but is engaging in a dialogue with those of others. This invitation to listen and share feels central to the book’s emotional depth. Zapruder often explores the liminal spaces between consciousness and sleep, where the line between what is real and what is imagined begins to blur. His poems are dreamlike in their pacing and structure, often flowing from one image or thought to the next with a logic that feels both intuitive and slightly askew.

At the heart of the collection is a sense of insomnia—the poet always awake at “that oddest hour / that does not end.” This perpetual wakefulness is emblematic of the larger anxieties that permeate the poems. The insomnia Zapruder describes isn’t just physical; it’s emotional and existential, tied to the relentless demands of modern life, the disorienting pace of time, and the uncertainty of the future. In his lines, the future is described as “just the past in a suit / that will never be in style,” a poignant observation that speaks to the cyclical nature of our disillusions and the haunting sense that nothing ever truly changes.

Yet, despite this undercurrent of despair, I Love Hearing Your Dreams is not without hope. Dreams, Zapruder suggests, also offer a way out—a place where we can imagine new realities and possibilities. They are spaces of transformation, where the limitations of the waking world fall away, and the boundaries of what we know are expanded. In this way, dreams become both an escape and a confrontation, forcing the poet and the reader to grapple with both their desires and their fears.

One of the collection’s standout qualities is Zapruder’s ability to weave modern cultural references into his dreamscapes, grounding his often abstract, philosophical musings in the everyday. His “razor eye for the remnants and revenants of modern culture,” as The New York Times has noted, is sharp as ever. Whether referencing the mundanity of scrolling through social media feeds, the eerie glow of late-night screens, or the forgotten wisdom of outdated pop culture, Zapruder brings the ghosts of contemporary life into his poems, giving them weight and relevance.

The poems in I Love Hearing Your Dreams also function as a kind of elegy—though, as Zapruder notes, they are “failed elegies,” grappling with the idea that memory and grief can never fully encapsulate what is lost. There’s a quiet acceptance of this failure woven throughout the collection, as if Zapruder is gently reminding us that not everything can or should be understood. Instead, he invites us to sit with the ambiguity, to feel it rather than solve it.

If there’s any critique to be made, it’s that some of the poems, in their dreamlike abstraction, might feel elusive or distant to readers looking for more grounded, concrete imagery. Zapruder’s language often drifts into the surreal, which can make it challenging to grasp the immediate “meaning” of a poem. However, this sense of drift and ambiguity is also the book’s strength, encouraging the reader to let go of the need for certainty and instead embrace the poems as experiences, much like dreams themselves.

Final Thoughts:
I Love Hearing Your Dreams is a stunning and deeply reflective collection that invites readers into the enigmatic, often haunting world of dreams and modern disillusionment. Matthew Zapruder’s lyrical, intimate voice explores the anxieties of the present moment while offering glimpses of hope and transformation. For readers who appreciate poetry that blends the surreal with the profoundly personal, this collection is a powerful and resonant journey through the landscapes of the subconscious and the everyday.

Matthew Zapruder's I Love Hearing Your Dreams: Poems is a collection of diverse poems. I thoroughly enjoyed reading many of the poems in this book. It is true that some of the poems didn't appeal to me, but you will find that in any collection of poetry. He definitely conveys mental imagery in his poems and draws his readers in. The cover wasn't my favorite. It didn't fit with the book's content. The following are a few of the poems that I particularly enjoyed.

I Love Hearing Your Dreams

My Grandmother's Dictionary

Thoughts on Punctuation

Bad Bear

Tell Me Why

The Locksmith

Jury Duty

King Oak

Dear Pink Flower

Sunflower Poem

Sundays

I See You

Listening to Paintings

I Don't Know

Matthew Zapruder writes in an interesting and amazingly insightful way. I have followed his work for years and was very pleased to see a new collection from this master of verse. He takes interesting turns in his poetry, examining the world through an alternative perspective that leaves the reader thinking about their own life as well as the reality he must be sharing — welcome poetic work anytime.

Matthew Zapruder gives us a collection of poems that feel as if you’re following his dream sequence and trying to catch up. Some poems were better than others, but overall it was enjoyable, and I highly recommend reading them.

Thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for the ARC!

Matthew Zapruder’s "I Love Hearing Your Dreams" is a warm, insulated collection of poems, often feeling like a shield between the reader and the world.

Many of these poems feel like the parts of bedtime stories that gnaw at the edges of dreams—the final sentences one hears before falling asleep. In other words, the cover offers a great picture of what readers can expect. These pieces surround readers like a blanket, muting the chaos of life when it occasionally breaks in.

Even the pieces with titles like “Supreme Despair Song” carry a certain kind of quietude. In that particular case, it’s immediately followed by a poem about yogurt. It’s so common for poetic turns to feel like a twist of the knife—it’s a nice alternative to see some that feel like rolling over in bed.

Unfortunately, the velvet-lined dreamscape Zapruder weaves here is often so smooth as to be frictionless. Many of the poems land the same way it does when someone shares a dream over breakfast—“Hm, I wonder if that means anything”—a momentary interruption before thinking about the day ahead or the toast that’s burning or almost anything else. Furthermore, some of these pieces seem to have been written during the height of the COVID pandemic, such as “The Evening Meeting,” and poems about Zoom calls feel like unpleasant relics at this point.

Thankfully, the collection ends strong. “Failed Elegy” is one of the most gorgeous poems I’ve read in a while, and it acts as an argument for the form’s limitations, suggesting that there are better places to be than the heart of a poem. It is such a succinct picture of the book’s guiding principle, and I wish it were one of the first pieces in the book so that it would frame everything else accordingly.

All in all, "I Love Hearing Your Dreams" feels like the perfect book to spend an afternoon and a cup of tea with, and I think it will reward readers who seek the comfort of poems that create room for them.

My thanks to Net Galley for the digital ARC.

I was initially intrigued by the sweet cover--an anthropomorphized rabbit in a dress and shawl walking through a dark forest--and may have expected poems to match. They were not about little woodland creatures, but there were some excellent and tender ideas gathered here.

This short book includes poems about:
Sunflowers
Birds
Poetry and poets
How much the poet loves his wife and son
The pandemic
The poet's high school French class (this is actually one of my favorites)
Death
A zoom meeting

I did also feel a sort of kinship with the poet, who lived in my city during the pandemic--there's something so relatable about getting burritos at the apocalypse. I also liked how grounded many of the poems were in appreciation for his life.

There were a few lines that really stood out which I'll add here once the book is published.

Review also published to goodreads.

I consider myself a fairly avid reader of contemporary poetry, and have read a few of Matthew Zapruder's collections. Though I enjoyed every one of them, his most recent "I Love Hearing Your Dreams", due out in September has become my favorite.
From the moment I first spotted it, the title itself, drew me right in. And the cover–it is by far one of the most outstanding and appealing covers I've encountered on any book of poetry. Fantastical and 'dreamy'!
Aside from that, I thoroughly enjoyed the numerous references to dreams, some good, some bad; as well as the realities, memories and reflections. This is definitely a book that will stay with me, and one that I will want to add to my personal library. Not only so I can pull it out periodically to delight in its adorable cover once again, but to review those poems in there that I've marked as my favorites.
Thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for the advance readers copy!

This is a book of poems, not meant to be read from beginning to end; rather a book to be dabbled in. A poem about grandfather memories or bad bears that are not bears, but fears. There are unquiet poems that make you feel un easy next to delightful poems that make everything all right with the world. The cover reminds me of a childhood memory that I can not place, no matter how long I gaze at it; like the poems within, a delightful mystery.

This was different from what I was expecting. The author is talented but this poetry wasn’t really my taste. I prefer poetry that is insightful and hopeful. I would say this collection is more observational musings. They seemed more like a random collection rather than a collected theme. Not bad, just not for me. 2.5 stars

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

There were some great poems in this collection that I really connected to, and I really enjoyed some of the imagery, which was cohesive across the collection. However, I felt the formatting (no punctuation and abrupt line breaks in places that didn't flow well/ feel right) made some of the poems difficult to read and understand. After some heavy editing, I think this will read easier and be more approachable.

I was drawn to the cover of this book, however the content did not match the description of this poetry collection. Other readers may resonate with the poems, and although I enjoy reading poetry, this collection wasn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for allowing me to read this collection of poetry in which I give my honest review.

The cover of "I Love Hearing Your Dreams" really grabbed my attention, which is why I requested this book. Unfortunately, while the cover is beautiful and inviting, I found that the description did not match the content. I struggled to connect with any of the poems in the book. I am giving it one star basically just for the cover. I encourage other readers to explore it and form their own opinions. Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for the arc.

I absolutely loved the cover of this book, which is what drew me in to request it. I found that the description, for me, did not match the book. I just could not connect with any of the poems in the book. I am giving it two stars for the cover, but I do hope other readers will read it for their own decision. I thank NetGalley and Scribner for the advance read.

Nice and simplicity nook. Easy to follow and understand and the cover is adorable. Only downside it didn't feel metaphorical.