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  • Michael Earl Craig is from Dayton, Ohio, home of the gas mask and the mood ring. He is the author of Iggy Horse (Wave Books, 2023) Woods and Clouds Interchangeable (Wave Books, 2019), Talkativeness (Wave Books, 2014), Thin Kimono (Wave Books, 2010), Yes, Master (Fence Books, 2006), Can You Relax in My House, (Fence Books, 2002), and the chapbook Jombang Jet (Factory Hollow Press, 2012). He lives in Montana, where he makes his living as a farrier. He was the 2015-2017 Poet Laureate of Montana.

  • Reviews

    ...Craig mixes new and old to charming effect, exploring fresh poetic territory while retaining his signature black, deadpan humor.
    —Nate Logan, Overheard Lit

    Woods and Clouds Interchangeable is an affecting collection for anyone in search of an honest language for the mutability of contemporary perception.
    —Nate Duke, The Adroit Journal

    Quite possibly the funniest poet writing today, Craig’s unadorned poetry tends toward the deadpan and the offbeat, with an almost David Lynch–like sense of the uncanny...
    —The Believer

    Craig animates a world we secretly share, and the tension and kilter of his poems reflect "dreamish autobiographical thoughts" with great poise.
    —Lia Purpura, The Antioch Review

    I like being in the world of Michael Craig's poems. Anything can happen, and probably will, and it will affect me in some small or large ways that I couldn't have imagined. The precision of their imagery keeps me reeling with delight.
    —James Tate

    Reviews of books by Michael Earl Craig

    Iggy Horse

    Woods and Clouds Interchangeable

    Talkativeness

    Thin Kimono


  • Interview with Harbor Light News
    Poems
    - “Rose Tantrum” (in The New Yorker)
    - Three Poems (in Poetry Magazine)
    - Touch My Omelet (at Bear Parade)
    - “This I Believe” (in The Nervous Breakdown)
    - Four Poems (on BOMBlog)
    - “I Am Examining A Small Crumb” (at The Volta)
    - “The More We Think About It” (in Granta)
    - Three Poems (in CounterPunch)
    - “Perhaps You See Where I Am Heading” (in Wag's Revue)

    Interviews
    - Bookslut, with Andrew James Weatherhead
    - Hoboeye, with Mitchell McInnis
    - HTMLGiant, with Zachary Schomburg
    - Northwest Book Lovers, with John Marshall
    - The Nervous Breakdown, with himself
    - TANK Magazine, with Rachael Allen

    Writings
    - Where Was I|Adventures in Reading (in The University of Arizona Poetry Center Blog)

  • Audio
    - Reading four poems from Talkativeness, in Poets & Writers
    - Episode 308 of OTHERPPL, a conversation between Brad Listi and Michael Earl Craig

    Video
    In “velvet skies and blacksmith dreams…”:


    At Butler Creek Ranch as part of the Poetry Bus Tour:

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