First, I’m going to be participating in a panel discussion entitled ‘Poetry and Visual Arts Roundtable’ at New York University Friday, February 17th. The panel includes myself, Sommer Browning, Bianca Stone, Mark Leidner, Mahendra Singh and the conversation will be moderated by Matthea Harvey.

I suspect there will be much talk of poetry and comics as individual forms and combined. Therefore, if you are a fan of either or both, or make them yourself I hope you come by and join the discussion.
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Second, Dave Morice is back in a huge way!

In the late ‘70s, Dave Morice was the first person to seriously and consistently combine comics and poetry, and coined the term “poetry comics.” An author and poet himself, he adapted the works of his favorite poets including of Walt Whitman, Ezra Pound, Robert Browning and so many more. His work is collected in two easy to get anthologies.

As far as I could tell, Mr. Morice had moved on from poetry comics to tackle a number of other fascinating projects and forms. He’s the hero I didn’t know I had until recently. Almost any good idea I’ve had, he had first, better and 10 years before I was born.

Just a few months ago, I had been trying to figure out how to get a hold of him. I became discouraged when I didn’t know how to easily approach him. You may remember me muttering about him under a comic last November. Suddenly last night, I saw that he had made a facebook page (of course). More importantly, he’s back to making poetry comics, or perhaps never quit. Even better, he’s taking poem submissions to be drawn (by him) as comics in his new online version of his Poetry Comics series.

Go, read comics, submit. It’s like finding out Party Down is back.

I’m going to go be a nerd and email him now.

No Blind to Blue this week, sorry folks.

I’ve been hard at work on a collaboration with Melissa Broder. A comic-ization of “Bones” a poem included in her forthcoming book Meat Heart. If you aren’t familiar with Melissa, she’s wonderful, and I highly recommend you read her first book When You Say One Thing But Mean Your Mother.

That’s a taste of progress above. I’ve been drawing a lot of moon faces lately.

 
I got a little carried away with the moon.

How do you feel about flying? Tell me in the comments, or pass me a note in Earth Science. Mr. Perry doesn’t care.

It’s one of those Wednesdays. Head over to Moonshot to get Omphaloskepsis hot off the wordpress.

Again, tell your friends, they miss hearing from you.

 
A little later with the post than usual this week. Last night, I put off coloring to throw together a video montage in honor of Mindtroll who are tonight celebrating their two year anniversary as a world famous band.

Do you ever attract fuzzy-eared creatures? What are they and how? Tell me in the comments.

 
Friday! Comics day.

Hung out with my grandfather yesterday. He told me how to catch a crab with a chicken foot. Good visit.

Have you ever heard a cephalopod beg for food? What sound did it make? Tell me in the comments.

I have a new series that I am doing for the folks over at Moonshot Magazine. It should go up the first and third Wednesdays of the month but I’ll keep you nerds up to date.

Tell your friends, they miss hearing from you.

 
I’m in Arizona, seeing people and people’s pets (my sister’s dog had a rough year which included liver surgery).

While visiting some old friends last night, I was giving some unsolicited “life coaching.” It’s a tongue-in-cheek thing that I slip into on occasion because I think the concept of me giving other people life advice with any authority is ironic and inherently funny. Typically, it focuses on things people want to do but aren’t making progress toward. I think this is the most humorous to me because I often get stuck in my own shiftlessness. The mock life coaching went on longer than usual and after a little time I found myself in the strange position of actually giving people legitimate solicited advice. It’s odd to realize that you have a useful perspective or knowledge that could be helpful to anyone. This, unfortunately, makes it less funny.

Have you ever woken up to realize someone isn’t a raccoon? Tell me about it in the comments.

Not unlike the box above I got a little tangled up in the season, and didn’t get my page done on time. If you simply can’t handle not having a new comic this week, check out the freshly pressed (digitally) Toddlers & Tiaras & Vermin, it’s three pages for the price of one.

Or start the Blind to Blue adventure over again and see if I changed anything since the last time.

Have anything that you expect to go wrong this Xmas? Tell me in the comments.

Very happy to say that Toddlers & Tiaras & Vermin is now available in its entirety on the TheTHE Poetry Blog. A perfect home, it is featured as part of Bianca Stone‘s ongoing series of Poetry Comics. Have a look, it will improve your quality of life and give you the second sight. I want to thank Bianca for her kind words about my work.