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Paola resident and poet Thomas Reynolds has published “Ghost Town Almanac,” a collection of poems designed to anecdotally capture the story of Kansas. Included in the collection are 53 of Reynolds’ poems, 50 of which have been published in print and online journals.
 
The poems published by Woodley Memorial Press of Washburn University in Topeka, were written over a 19-year period.

“They grew out of my interest not only in poetry but also history, especially the history of Kansas and the Midwest,” he said.

Reynolds arranged the poems in three sections. The first section is titled, “The Book of Stones,” and the focus is on prehistory and deals with rocks and fossils, two things Reynolds admits always fascinated him.

“Several of the poems in this section narrate my encounters with them as a child in rural Miami County and the past they represent,” he said.

The second section, “Ghost Town Almanac” takes readers back to the 19th century in the Midwest and Kansas. Reynolds delves into the Civil War era, settlement days and the Wild West right on up to the early 20th century using narrative poems.

“Essentially, I’m part poet and part storyteller,” he said.

The most important source for his inspiration for the poems in section two, Reynolds explained, came from books of photographs from that time period in the Paola Free Library.

“These books gave me a sense of atmosphere and detail about the era, while some of the photographs served as starting points for poems. With some, I tried in poems to recreate the moments when the photographs were taken. Who were these people? What were those situations?

“Poems recreate the moments when murdered outlaws are being positioned for photographs, when the blizzard of 1888 strands a school teacher and her children in the school house, when a drive in Protection, Kan., is carried out to herd and then exterminate an over population of jack rabbits,” he said, as he reviewed many historical stories he has retold.

He chose a photograph of Dodge City, Kan., from the 1880s for the cover.

“I liked the look and felt this is what I was attempting to capture in my poems,” he said.

Contemporary Kansas, especially small town Kansas, comes to life in “Happy Hour at Vera’s,” his title for section three.

“One of my inspirations for these poems was a book, also in the Paola library, called ‘The Pioneer Spirit’ by Lyle Alan White. White’s book of photographs and journal entries describes his travels in small towns in the Midwest. He was looking for traces of the pioneer spirit, to see whether it still endured among the dust and the wheat,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds said the poems in the last section attempt to do something similar.

“Many of them are written in the voices of eccentric individuals in small towns throughout Kansas. There is Vera, the proprietor of a bar in Hunter; Will Danham, who grows grapes near Newton; or a lonely sheepherder, who drives a 100 sheep to winter range near Muddy Creek,” he said, while describing several poems.

The book is available through a number of bookstores across the state of Kansas but can also be ordered at www.amazon.com and through the Washburn University Web site, www.washburn.edu/reference/woodley-press/order.htm.  Books sell for $10.

After sending his original manuscript to the Woodley Press, it took two years before it was accepted and another two years before Reynolds had an actual copy in his hands.

“I’m glad I wasn’t in a hurry, but holding the book the first time was pretty amazing,” he said.

Reynolds graduated from Paola High School in 1983 and attended Washburn University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in history and English. After Washburn, he earned an master of fine arts degree in creative writing from Wichita State University. He currently is an assistant professor of English at Johnson County Community College, where he teaches composition, literature and creative writing.

Reynolds and his wife, Ruby, have two children, Rachel, 11, who attends Sunflower Elementary, and Audrey, 16, a Paola High School sophomore.

Reynolds said teaching his classes and grading papers keeps him busy, so writing happens on semester breaks. He does manage to jot down ideas during the semester and in his spare time.

“I’ve had four weeks off over Christmas and New Year’s, so I’ve been able to write,” he said.

He also might bring a rough draft of a poem to class and share writing problems with my students.

“I don’t use my own poems, though, because there are too many good poets we need to use in class. But I can share my own writing frustrations because my students go through those same frustrations and difficulties,” Reynolds said.

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