drawing

Welcome to Poetry Month 2016!

As you may or may not know, I get a little excited for Poetry Month. And here we are. I’ve got big things planned this year. Each Monday I’m going to post about a poet (or poets) that I think are worth checking out. I was going to just leave it at that, but then on Tuesday, the Poem-A-Day email I get (which was started during Poetry Month, if you can believe that) featured a poem I really liked: (The Carousel by Zachary Schomburg). I asked the Zachary if it was cool to share it here, and he said o.k. He’s not just a poet, he’s also an artist and you can see his drawings on his Tumblr. Below is his drawing of Patti Smith.

Patti Smith, by Zachary Schomburg

The Carousel
Zachary Schomburg

I’m in a carousel.
The kind that spins
people to the wall.
There is a woman
and a man and a man
inside of it too,
and a man operating it.
Everybody I love is
looking down at me,
laughing. When I die,
I’ll die alone.
I know that much,
held down by my
own shadow, wanting
to touch the woman,
the man, the man,
across the curvature.
I won’t be able to even
look. I’m on a train.
I’m a tiny spider.
A tiny star.
Or a giant spider.
When everything stops,
I’ll open the only door
to the carousel and
it’ll be the wrong one
I’ve forgotten entering.

I scooped the BBC

Fans of my annual Poetry Month Freakout may remember I did a write-up on the greatness of Stevie Smith last year (or, just scroll down a few posts, I’ve been a bit of a deadbeat once poetry month ended). The BBC just did an article on her, given that there was just a big event celebrating her in the UK. Always an unheralded tastemaker, I am. Dig it.

One of her many illustrations for her poetry, which I love as much as her poetry.
One of her many illustrations for her poetry, which I love as much as her poetry.

Go see Doodle!

The opening for Doodle was Friday night, and it was packed from start to finish. I was there for most of it, so this is not hearsay. Here I am posing in front of some of my pieces with my clearly exhausted son, who is wiped out by all the awesomeness.

Art is exhausting.
Art is exhausting.

The show runs until January 26th. Hours can be found here.

More pictures can be found on Doodle’s Facebook page.

A high point for me (there were many) was a person who works at a gynecologist’s office coming up to me and telling me how much she loved this comic:

"Period Piece."
“Period Piece.”

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.)

doodle-hey-cowboy-BOSTICK

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!

 

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