Personal space

Karen Hayes
Karen Hayes

Karen Hayes

Where I live: In a tiny two-street neighborhood at the edge of North Little Rock.

Occupation: I have been a service clerk for 35 years. According to an eighth-grade friend, I have been a poet even longer.

My favorite space in my home is: my kitchen table.

Why? I write poetry everywhere. The bits and pieces come together at my kitchen table. It's also headquarters for my two poetry "businesses," Kitchen Table Press and Dogtown Poetry on Demand. I published a handmade poetry chapbook on Kitchen Table Press last fall. I folded, bound and made the cover art for all 50 copies at my kitchen table.

Dogtown Poetry on Demand is my poetry-outreach business. You name the subject, I'll write about it. I am a regular volunteer gig at the Argenta [Branch of the] Laman Library on the third Friday of the month for the Argenta Art Walk. I write at street fairs, farmers markets and festivals.

I read a lot of poetry at my kitchen table. A meal at my table invariably includes a poem. I sometimes read to my cat, the Hiss Mistress Cutie Hayes. She thinks I'm the Poet Laureate of North Little Rock.

If I could make one change to improve this space, I would: move the hanging light fixture from where the kitchen table used to be to where it is now. Tall friends bonk their heads on it.

HomeStyle on 01/21/2017

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