William R. Craft, Jr.

Infobox Person
name=William R. Craft, Jr.


birth_date=June 20, 1967
birth_place= Syracuse, New York, U.S.
occupation=Author
Poet
URL= [http://www.craft-link.net]

William Craft (born June 20, 1967) is an American poet and publisher from Syracuse, New York.

As a poet

Craft authored the critically acclaimed "The Asylum" in 1995 and "Decadence" in 2004.

"The Asylum", which comprises Craft's first three chapbooks ("Zero", "Inside the Matrix" and "Evolution") serves as a social critique of American modern society and the alienation that people feel in the consumer culture of 1990's America. Craft noted as a dark poet for his early work made a departure in 1996 with Dawn a chapbook that explored emotions that he had not covered in his earlier work. Craft returned to his origins with Progression in 1997 and The Ithaca Poems in 1998. Embryo which was released in 2002 was Craft's most outwardly Political collection.

Decadence are Craft's collected works from 1993-2004 and include all of his chapbooks (Zero, Inside the Matrix, Evolution, Dawn, Progression, The Ithaca Poems and Embryo)

As an author

Craft the author of 'The Chronicles of Honor" a three books series from Penguin books. The Chronicles of Honor is the story of Matthew Brown a United States Air Force pilot as he progresses from a young pilot in 'Soldiers of the Skies' to a seasoned pilot in the Science Fiction epic 'Soldiers of the Heavens' to the nations first gentleman in 'The Problem with Honor'. Craft describes the Chronicles as the story of an American idealist and ultimately a love story.

As a publisher

Craft founded [http://www.zerobooks.net Zero Books] in 1993 to publish poetry from a new phenomenon the rising voice of Generation X poets. Zero Books which publishes anthologies that introduce new poets and cover specific subjects has grown little from its inception and publishes 3 books per year.

In television

Craft along with Co-Producer Kathy Purnell produced 'The Poets' Cafe' A weekly poetry talk show for two years originating out of Ithaca, New York. The Poets Cafe featured such poets as Nikki Giovanni, A.R. Ammons and David Lehman

Publications

*Zero: A Collection of Observations (1993, Zero Books)
*Inside the Matrix (1994, Zero Books)
*Evolution (1994, Zero Books)
*The Asylum (1995, Zero Books)
*Dawn (1996, Zero Books)
*Progression (1997, Zero Books)
*Time (1997, Zero Books)
*The Ithaca Poems (1999, Zero Books)
*Embryo (2002, Zero Books)
*Decadence (2004, Zero Books)
*Soldiers of the Heavens (2007, Penguin)
*The Songbook of the Elders (2007, Zero Books)
*Soldiers of the Skies (2008, Penguin)
*The Problem with Honor (2009, Penguin)

Influences

Craft who is heavily influenced by American Poet Jim Morrison and French Poet Arthur Rimbaud often sites his influences in his work, the poem Our Century is written as a prayer as were Morrison's 'An American Prayer' and Rimbaud's 'An Evening Prayer'.

In July 2007 A copy of Craft's Decadence was placed on Morrison's grave in Paris by officials from Père Lachaise Cemetery with the inscription 'Jim, thanks for the inspirations and the awakening, Bill"

Craft is leading a petition drive to present Governor Charlie Crist of Florida with 1 Million signatures asking for a full pardon of Morrison's 1970 conviction in Miami.

External links

* [http://www.craft-link.net Official Website]
* [http://www.zerobooks.net Zero Books]