Larry Crist - "I have to hear what I’m writing off the ears of others."

There’s a “take me as I am” quality about Larry Crist that’s reinforced when he reads his poetry. Although a little young to be a child of the 60’s, he personifies that era of questioning authority, challenging everyman to stand up and do his part.

 Born in Palo Alto, CA., Larry’s lived in London, Chicago, Houston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and for the last twenty years, Seattle. His worldly perspective is focused on what an individual can do through activism to make a difference

  

Larry Crist

I began school already knowing how to read and found school dull. I was a disruptive kid. My parent’s broke up early. We moved a lot. She was a teacher. I got in trouble with the law in my teens and spent a year in jail without finishing high school.

     The only thing (aside from drugs and alcohol) I found interesting was theatre. I spent my late teens and most of my twenties doing plays and appeared in a number of films as well. After receiving a BA at HSU I earned my MFA at Temple University. Halfway through this program, I bought a typewriter and began writing stories, poems, whatnot. I was 27.

     This was thirty years ago, I’ve been writing ever since. I began getting things published in my mid-thirties after I moved to Seattle in 1992.

     I do a lot of readings: open mics, bars, features. It has become an integral part of my writing process. I have to hear what I’m writing off the ears of others.

    

     1. Who are you? List 5 words that best describe you.

    

     Curious – Defiant – Blunt – Impatient – Inquisitive

2. What have you done that you’re most proud of?

Depends on when asked. At this moment it is getting my first book—Undertow Overtures—published. Last year it would have been something else, a publication perhaps. When I was 12 it would have been a ball I hit for a homerun or a fish I caught. Pride, is highly transitory.

3. If you could change one thing in your past, what would it be?

I wish I wouldn’t have been such a fuck-up as a kid. I’m sorry I didn’t try out for football in high school. I have a great throwing arm and can kick a football better than any one I know, only I didn’t discover this until I was in my late thirties.

4. On a personal level, what drives you crazy? What gives you joy?

Pompous certainty. The self-centeredness of homo-sapiens, thinking this is their planet and they can treat it and other animal species like trash. God, religion, war, politics; it’s all a racket.

5. Given no restrictions (i.e. money/physical capabilities) – what would you most like to do?

I might learn to sail—be a sea bum. I’d continue to write at about the same output but would work/hustle less. I’d take more train trips, attend more weddings, go to baseball games and attend spring training. I’d partake in more activism with regards to planet saving efforts, as well as helping to defeat the rise of fascism here in the United States.

Contact Larry at    Larrycrist13@gmail.com

Undertow Overtures is available through Amazon.

• Two short Films Tidal Wave, Everybody I have Ever Known, writer and narration, by Salise Hughes, Northwest Film Forum.
• Jack Straw 2013  
• Three Pushcart nominations.

Reading at Elliott Bay Book Store - Seattle

Contact Larry at:    Larrycrist13@gmail.com

Undertow Overtures is available through Amazon.

• Two short Films Tidal Wave, Everybody I have Ever Known, writer and narration, by Salise Hughes, Northwest Film Forum.
• Jack Straw 2013  
• Three Pushcart nominations.

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