About Michael Earl Craig
Michael Earl Craig is an American poet living in Livingston, Montana. He was born in Dayton, Ohio, home of the gas mask and the mood ring. Craig is the author of Iggy Horse (Wave Books, forthcoming 2023), Can You Relax in My House (Fence Books, 2002), Yes, Master (Fence Books, 2006),Thin Kimono (Wave Books, 2010), and Woods and Clouds Interchangeable (Wave Books 2019). He was appointed the Montana Poet Laureate in October 2015. Michael Earl Craig has developed a poetry as whimsical as it is serious, diffusing the gravitas not by leaving it out, but by building out a surface—a texture in language—that feels disarming, direct, omnivorous in its references, and impishly playful. Parataxis is Craig’s friend, but more often he’s just describing the way he sees the world, and leaving out the boring parts. There’s as much Edward Abbey in this poetics as there is Nicanor Parra.Browse all poems and texts published on Michael Earl Craig
I lie in the dark on my side
thinking about the different
sides that I’m aware of.
The side of a horse.
The side of a ship.
(Old Ironsides.)
A side of beef.
A side of slaw.
Big spoon of mac & cheese
and its subsequent ramekin.
Then ramekin production...
the glazing of ramekins...
the inspections and the bubble-wrap.
