"It's More Than a Drawl Y'all" by Ken Chamlee

“Nice poem, Tex”

North Carolina poet, writing teacher, and retired English professor Ken Chamlee recalls an early encounter that sharpened his thinking about language and perception and “Southern.”

Kenneth Chamlee taught English at Brevard College for forty years. His poems have appeared in The North Carolina Literary Review, Cold Mountain Review,  Ekphrasis, and many others, including six editions of Kakalak: An Anthology of Carolina Poets. He has received three Pushcart Prize nominations and regularly teaches for the Great Smokies Writing Program at UNC-Asheville. Ken lives in Mills River, North Carolina, and is currently working on a poetic biography of 19th century American landscape painter Albert Bierstadt. Check it out at www.kennethchamlee.com.