I’ve been quiet for a while, but here’s an event where I’ll be talking. Harvard Arts First is this weekend, and I will be performing a monologue (often referred to as “the poop monologue” for lack of a better term, or perhaps that’s actually the best term) on Saturday, April 29th, at 4:30 in Phillip Brooks House (on the edge of Harvard Yard, across from the Science Center). The above link has a map and program you can view online for more information. As far as I know, John Lithgow (receiving an award this year) will not be in the audience, but I cannot guarantee that he won’t, so you ought to come just in case. This portion of the event is free, the rest will come at a cost.
Announcements
Already?
Note to self: Summer has flown by. Get going on this.
Welcome to August!
I actually have had a pretty good summer this year, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to slack as far as making August count is involved.
More Haiku Coverage!
My town paper did a nice story on me, and used some illustrations I did that were inspired by the ongoing train disaster.
In case you missed it . . .
Here’s the interview I did on WGBH last night.
Worth checking out, even if you live somewhere with reliable public transit.
Talking With The Kraftman About Poetry
I’ll be talking about my MBTA haikus on Under the Radar this Sunday, March 8th, on WGBH radio. That’s 89.7 in the Boston area, or you can stream via WGBH’s website. (Click “Radio” at the top, and then “Live Stream” on the left.) It’s on 6-7 pm EST.
(The title of this post is a reference to a Billy Bragg album that I am a fan of, which is in itself a reference to a poem. Round and round we go.)
And if you’d like to read more of my haikus, you can buy my 2011 Haiku-A-Day book here.
Haiku in the news!
Boston.com did a nice story about my MBTA haiku coping mechanism. I’m not alone in my beef with the T.
More Haiku For You!
Even if you’re not in the area, you may have heard about the winter Massachusetts has been having. We’ve been getting pounded relentlessly, and it’s caused the Boston-area transit system to be completely shut down several times. Even when it’s not shut down, it works less than great. In an effort to stay sane in the face of being constantly stuck on trains, I’ve begun to write haikus and tweet them at the MBTA. I’ve been collecting them at T’d Off Haikus, or if you want to watch them unfold in real time, you can follow me on Twitter (@erikpkraft). They predict it will be 30 days from the end of snow to get the system back up and running, and snow is forecast for tonight, so I’ve got at least another month to go with this.
If you’re interested in a copy of my 2011 Haiku-A-Day book, you can get one here or here.
Pulp & Press is open for business!
Come on down to Mill No.5, 250 Jackson Street, Lowell MA and buy some stuff! This is an amazing space, and I’m super impressed with all the stuff people have for sale here.
Buy stuff from me in Lowell!
I’ll be selling some stuff at Pulp & Press in Lowell, MA on Saturday, March 1st from 12 – 7. I’ll have signed books for sale, as well as comics, and whatever I can glue together that I have in my pockets. I won’t be the only one there, though, so check out the link and come on out! If you want a slightly less vague idea of what I’ll be selling, see my Etsy page, but that’s not everything I’ve got, you know. You might even be able to get your picture taken with The Ape Dude, but you didn’t hear that from me.
You can get your autographed copy of “And the baby was a clown!” there, for sure.
Art opening this Friday
I’ve got some pieces in an art show called Doodle, which “is a show on cartooning in all of its forms.” The image for the show was done by my friend Craig Bostick, and the show was curated by Jef Czekaj. I’m not sure I need to say much more, but if I do, just check out the website of the show. The opening is this Friday, January 8th, from 6-8pm, at the Nave Gallery Annex, 53 Chester Street, Somerville, MA (Davis Square, next to Redbones).
Here’s part of Craig’s image. Who doesn’t like cowboys? (You might even like him more if you see what he’s wearing.)
My Haiku-A-Day collection is ready!
Back in 2011, I wrote a haiku every day and put them on my Tumblr. I have been meaning to collect these and publish them for a while, but things got busy. I had been meaning to get this out during April, since that’s poetry month, but I got sick and ran into technical difficulties. But none of that matters, because here we are.
You can buy it here.
Happy Poetry Month!
I’m going to have some exciting poetry news to share later in April, but for now, just get into it. Here’s my favorite William Carlos Williams poem to help you get started.
As the cat
climbed over
the top of
the jamcloset
first the right
forefoot
carefully
then the hind
stepped down
into the pit of
the empty
flowerpot
My new comic is live!
Cats In The Alley (written by my friend Nicolle, and drawn by me) debuted last night during the Superbowl. If you were too busy looking at the power outage, you can still read it, because the internet is forever. You can also like us on Facebook, or follow us on Tumblr.
Here is a panel from the first one that we are going to make into bookplates. Instead of “this book belongs to” they will say “this book was not thrown away by _______”). Just try to act like you don’t want these!
New episode Sundays and Thursdays. You can add them to your RSS reader if you’d like to keep up.
Character development
My friend Nicolle and I are working on a graphic novel/webcomic type thing. We have finally decided on how the characters should look. So, presenting Tabs and Dizzy.
We’re not quite there yet, but when we are, the comics will be posted at The Cats In The Alley Tumblr.