Bio on John William Kulm (This Bio undergoes frequent revisions)

John Kulm's poetry is about "the meanings of..." He grew up on a family farm in Quincy, Washington, and his first poetry book explores the meanings of leaving the farm. He explains, "That's why I called the book, 'The Five Stages of Quitting Farming.' I could have called it, 'How I Gave Up While I Still Had Some Cash.'"

John's second manuscript has poetry and anecdotes about the time he spent in stand-up comedy and performance poetry. "Okay, I haven't found a publisher for the second one yet. I'm waiting for just two more rejection letters before I give up and post it online. If it goes un-read, it might as well go un-read in public."

John says he writes "more for the stage than the page." He's performed his poetry in such venues as the Adelaide Fringe Festival in Australia, The Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada, The Impala in Los Angeles, The Peoples Poetry Gathering in Lower Manhattan, New York, and on National Public Radio and The Family Channel. He's also toured as a performer in the alternative music festival Lollapalooza. "I wrote a story about it called, 'Why Lollapalooza Owes Me Five Bucks.' Performance poetry isn't very lucrative."

John graduated from Trinity Lutheran College in Issaquah, Washington, with a degree in Biblical Studies before falling in with a bunch of stand-up comics and "squandering years in nightclubs to learn about working audiences."

Currently John is a letter carrier for the Postal Service in Seaside, Oregon. "I got a job delivering mail," he admits, "I just wanted health insurance for my wife and three kids and I surprised myself and found out I like being a mailman." His current writing interests are still about meanings. "I write poetry to explore the meanings of tourism: Living in a tourist region and participating in this landscape of... of tourismania."