Writing got me my first detention when Sr. Mary Gilbert accused me of turning in an assignment that, “obviously”, someone else had written for me... She was suspicious because I had skipped 7th grade. After my parents verified my authorship, I spent two years in 8th grade for my ‘C’ in English that year.

In High School I began writing poetry and won the National Council of Teachers of English Award in 1967 with its flood of scholarships.


It was my great good fortune to meet d.a. Levy who personally encouraged me to keep writing. I met Allen Ginsberg’s and shook his hand after a reading at Oberlin College. Vietnam, marriage and fatherhood came before I graduated from First College at CSU in 1994. I attended Norwich University in Montpelier, Vermont for Graduate work in Critical Art Theory while I taught for five years as a Visiting Artist Professor and Continuing Education Instructor at the Cleveland Institute of Art. From then until my recent retirement, I earned my keep from the full-time marketing of commissioned artwork and one-man Art Exhibition sales of my ‘inspired’ works.

I continue to write and perform my poetry annually at Mack’s Back Bookstore in Cleveland Heights. In 2000, I authored the chapbook, ‘I Write the Grasses’ for the benefit of my grandchildren.. Also, because of them, I began a Digital Documentary of my visual art that has since become my website listed above. Hard-wired into the Human experience is the ability to touch others through creativity and metaphor.

It is in that effort that I have spent my entire life.

To read more about Ken and view a sampling of his work, visit his Web site, gradomskistudios.com.