William J. Karnowski is a construction worker by day and poet by night. His spirit is married to the earth. He worked as a laborer, a mason tender, finisher, gandydancer, therapy aide, boat builder, ironworker, draftsman, and now owns a construction company with his brother Dave. "I thought to myself, "Self, if the geese can go south, then, why can't we?" It never did take me very long to make a decision, especially if it involved a motorcycle." Bill has traveled the length of the Oregon Trail, the Santa Fe Trail, and to the Great Smokies and back in the sports car that he built. He built his house, makes his furniture, and writes poetry on his farm at Laclede, Kansas. "I find it is satisfying to get my hands and brain involved in everything I do." "Check it out. I twist a few tails along the way."

Bill Karnowski grew up in rural Jackson County located on the north end of the Flint Hills of Kansas. He and his thirteen brothers and sisters spent their childhoods on the Hoot Owl Hollow Ranch. His poetry has its roots as deep as the big bluestem grass that make up the last remaining expanses of the Tallgrass prairie. The Prairie Chickens still boom on early spring mornings. He will share his language of this land.

William Karnowski writes to his wife, his children, and to the reader about the path he took from a small boy on a cattle ranch in Northeast Kansas to life in the fast lane in the urban jungles. His personal collection of poetic insights describes the faces and places of America. His prose and poetry paint written pictures of the joy of his childhood, the dangers of his youth, and his comfort in the great outdoors. Karnowski has traveled from Maine to California, from Canada to Mexico, absorbing and reflecting on his passage through the good and bad times from the late 60s to present. The date each poem was written has been recorded. The trickle of poems written in the early years has grown to a flood, which resulted in Pushing the Chain. Sometimes humorous, sometimes reflective, sometimes sad, but always honest; Pushing the Chain will strike chords of recognition in the heart and mind of the traveler, look at his or her own life through the prose and poetry of William Karnowski.

Bill Karnowski grew up in rural Jackson County located on the north end of the Flint Hills of Kansas. He and his thirteen brothers and sisters spent their childhoods on the Hoot Owl Hollow Ranch. His poetry has its roots as deep as the big bluestem grass that make up the last remaining expanses of the Tallgrass prairie. The Prairie Chickens still boom on early spring mornings. He will share his language of this land.

William J. Karnowski is a construction worker by day and poet by night. His spirit is married to the earth. He worked as a laborer, a mason tender, finisher, gandydancer, therapy aide, boat builder, ironworker, draftsman, and now owns a construction company with his brother Dave. "I thought to myself, "Self, if the geese can go south, then, why can't we?" It never did take me very long to make a decision, especially if it involved a motorcycle." Bill has traveled the length of the Oregon Trail, the Santa Fe Trail, and to the Great Smokies and back in the sports car that he built. He built his house, makes his furniture, and writes poetry on his farm at Laclede, Kansas. "I find it is satisfying to get my hands and brain involved in everything I do." "Check it out. I twist a few tails along the way."

William Karnowski writes to his wife, his children, and to the reader about the path he took from a small boy on a cattle ranch in Northeast Kansas to life in the fast lane in the urban jungles. His personal collection of poetic insights describes the faces and places of America. His prose and poetry paint written pictures of the joy of his childhood, the dangers of his youth, and his comfort in the great outdoors.

Karnowski has traveled from Maine to California, from Canada to Mexico, absorbing and reflecting on his passage through the good and bad times from the late 60s to present. The date each poem was written has been recorded. The trickle of poems written in the early years has grown to a flood, which resulted in "Pushing the Chain."

Sometimes humorous, sometimes reflective, sometimes sad, but always honest; "Pushing the Chain" will strike chords of recognition in the heart and mind of the traveler, look at his or her own life through the prose and poetry of William Karnowski.