Waffle House Has Its Own Poet Laureate

Andrew Alexander of Atlanta Magazine spends time with Georgia Tech Professor and Waffle House Poet Laureate Karen Head to learn more about her very recent and truly official appointment. To start, Alexander asks, "How did you become Waffle House Poet Laureate?" From there: 

Georgia Tech and Waffle House are very firmly connected. All of the heads of Waffle House have been Georgia Tech graduates. The current CEO Walt Ehmer is a Georgia Tech graduate, and the former CEO Bert Thornton was a Tech graduate. Bert and I got to know each other through some alumni events. We talked about Georgia Tech’s guaranteed admission for any valedictorian or salutatorian in the state. The first year it was offered, there were 37 counties that did not send a single application. Many students just don’t have any examples of someone who has gone to college in their lives. I didn’t. I’m a first-gen college student, Neither of my parents graduated high school. I told Bert I wanted to go out to the most rural schools in the most far-flung counties and talk about arts and poetry. I wanted the students to hear my story about going to college. Bert suggested I write up a proposal for the foundation. I asked for a modest grant to cover travel to 12 schools and a poetry competition, which would pay the winner’s tuition to the state’s online college core program. They agreed to fund my idea and mailed me a Waffle House nametag with an official title, Waffle House Poet Laureate. The idea of it has just sort of caught on. People want to tell me their own Waffle House stories. It’s been fascinating.

I take it you’re a big fan of the restaurants?
Having grown up in a military family, moving around so much, Waffle House has always represented a sense of home for me. When I was getting my PhD in Nebraska, the closest Waffle House was in St. Joseph, Missouri. When I got stuck on my dissertation or just started feeling homesick, I would get in my car and drive the two hours down to St. Joe’s. I would eat, and then turn around and drive back. It would take the better part of a day, but it was just a healthy release. I just like good, solid, reliable food. I don’t really eat waffles. It’s all about the hash browns for me. And when they’re always open, it’s something you can count on. One of my poems is called “Always Open.” It’s about that drive from Kansas City.

Continue reading at Atlanta Magazine.