The KMA School of Poetry

The Blog is devoted to the KMA School of Poetry.

What is the KMA School of Poetry?

Back a few years ago, I visited Lindsborg, Kansas, and toured the Red Barn Studio. This is the studio used by local artist, Lester Raymer, until his death in 1991. I could describe the amazing ability of this artist, but there are several sites on the internet that do this. I will say that I was inspired to write a Lester Raymer poem. This was the first poetry I had written in over twenty years. I continued to write poetry and sat in on Laura Washburn's poetry workshop in the Spring of 03.

Early on I gave her a poem "The Brazilian Cliff Diver." Laura read it and gave it back to me with the note: "A little too KMA for my taste."

I struggled over this cryptic note, trying to figure out what it might mean. Was it a secret code used by poets? Maybe it was just an off-the-cuff comment on my work in general.

So I went to Laura and asked her what KMA meant. She was puzzled. Then I showed her the poem and her note.

"No, it says "A little too Kim A. for my taste."

I looked, and sure enough there was a tiny "i" in there. She meant to say that the poem was a bit too much like Kim Addonizio's for her taste. Okay, that makes sense.

Anyway, a few months later the urge to write poetry faded. It was like, for a six month period, I was compelled to write one or two poems a week. Then nothing.

Here is my theory.

I think that while in Lindsborg I suffered a minor stroke which affected my left brain. Suddenly the balance of power between Left Brain and Right Brain shifted in favor of the Right Brain. So suddenly (and compulsively) I began to write poetry. Later, as my brain healed itself, the Left Brain was able to re-assert its dominance and the urge to write poetry faded.

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Earl Lee is a librarian in Pittsburg, and he has written for The Humanist and Truth Seeker, including an article in the best-selling anthology: You Are Being Lied To.

His books include: Libraries in the Age of Mediocrity, and parodies of the fundamentalist “Left Behind” series, including:
The Raptured! : The Final Daze of the Late, Great Planet Earth.