Karen Maynard

Abiodun, of The Last Poets, after hearing Karen sing, encouraged her to attend his Poetry Network and then encouraged her to write a poem. In March of 2020 she wrote her first poem.

Prior to this encouragement Karen had written one new chorus to Summertime. Bitten by the poetry bug, she then attended a poetry workshop sponsored by Jazzmobile.  This resulted in a collection of poems for which she holds a copyrights. This lead her to Berklee College of Music where she studied, completed and now holds   Professional Certificates in Lyric Writing and Songwriting.  

She has written music for several poems by other poets and blends her poetry with jazz standards.  Furthermore she write new lyric to standards updating and or personalizing their message.

Karen is a retired NYC music and special education teacher and is enjoying this new chapter in her life's journey .