Funny, I always thought when I was younger, the ideal retirement would have me living in a swank condo, with the ocean on one side and a golf course on the other. Julie and I would travel to Europe, Canada, maybe even Indianapolis. Having retired as a Human Resources professional—not wealthy but not exactly poor, either—I looked forward to a long, pleasant, and fun-filled retirement, with Julie at my side.
How That Worked Out
I blew out a knee, which ruined my golf game. By the time the knee was fixed, I had found other ways to spend my time and money. I went back to school for an MFA. The next few years were consumed with Julie’s struggle against leukemia. Though she won many battles, she lost that war in 2019. After her death, I sold our condo in Charlotte and abandoned the golf course. The HOA promised the buyer they would patch the dozens of golf ball dents pocking the side of the building.
I moved to the beach—actually about a mile from the ocean, where the rent was cheaper. But I grew weary of the touristy culture (a literary wasteland), and yearned for higher ground. I moved to Greenville, SC, where I found the thriving arts and literary community I wanted. Actually, I settled in a suburb, where the rent’s cheaper. Made lots of friends. Joined some poetry groups. Now, I keep one foot in each of the Carolinas. From my strategic location, I can drive to many literary events in both states in an hour or two. I haven’t remarried, but I’m open to the idea if my secret love, Dua Lipa, becomes available. There are days when I am crushed by loneliness. Others when I luxuriate in my independence. As Mark Doty wrote, it’s the small things that save us.
Below you will find words and images of some of those small things. Which sometimes become big things, if you let them.
Richard’s Sampler of 2026 Events (so far)
August 18, 2026—The Upstate South Carolina release of my latest poetry collection, Geography of One, instilled major happiness, and the audience seemed to enjoy it, too. Invited by Greenville’s classiest bookstore, M. Judson Booksellers, I relished reading before a warm and welcoming crowd of about thirty, and enjoyed the conversation onstage with poet and novelist Arthur McMaster, who led the Q&A and prompted my reading. A special thanks to the M. Judson staff, especially Alyssa Fikse and Ashley Warlick.
August 8, 2026—My first visit to the Seventh Street Market Open Mic in Charlotte, NC—hosted by Lucinda Trew— turned out to be a big surprise. Although I’m a native of Charlotte, I moved away from the city in 2021, yet I still knew most of the poets who attended. One, my old friend Jonathan K. Rice, will be my reading partner for at least two events on our respective “book tours.”
June 14-18, 2026—I attended the Tinker Mountain Writers Workshop (TMWW) in Roanoke, VA, for the second consecutive year, one of a dozen poets in the workshop led by the distinguished poet and educator Rebecca Lindenberg. My brother, John (pen name JM Taylor), a novelist, attended the conference with the fiction writers, while my sister-in-law, Martha Jane Robertson, attended the poetry workshop. Happy, also, to see my Atlanta pal, Edward Lineberry, in the group, and Emily Cinquemani, a Greenville friend and colleague who teaches poetry at the SC Governor’s School of the Arts and leads poetry workshops for WriteShare, a Greenville-based non-profit literary arts organization.
May 12-17, 2026—It was exciting to be selected for the poetry cohort at the Looking Glass Rock Writers Conference on the campus of Brevard College, Brevard, NC. We were told admission was very competitive, with only one in nine applicants selected. The renowned Victoria Chang, author of many books, led the poetry workshop. My favorite of her books so far is Obit, a collection that explores grief and loss, and which received the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and several other awards and honors. An excellent and wise teacher, Victoria advised me in our one-on-one conference that my old age and vast experience is an advantage I need to exploit more. She urged me to push my writing further. It was great advice and right on point. Too often, I settle for “good enough” when I could write a few more lines or be tougher on myself in the revision process, to get a poem that really shines. I’m trying to follow her advice. Regarding the place and the people, the college campus is idyllic, and the poets in the class were a wonderful mix of very smart people of different backgrounds, races, and cultures. And speaking of culture, I thought it was cute, and a bit odd, that many of the staff there had cartoon-like images of white squirrels on their T-shirts. On the last day, I spotted several white squirrels on the lawn and was told they were indigenous to the area. The City of Brevard has an annual White Squirrel Weekend with food trucks, music, and various other entertainments. I was sorry I didn’t buy the T-shirt while I had the chance. Next time.
April 28, 2026—Millie Tullis, a member of “Uncommon Writers,” read from her new poetry collection at M. Judson Booksellers in Greenville, SC, followed by an “in conversation” with Mamie Morgan. If the term “in conversation” is new to you, it’s a sort of combination interview/poetry reading with the interviewer and interviewee sharing the stage. Millie’s new book, These Saints Are Stones, draws on her Mormon background and family research—including interviews of some now-deceased family members. Her family history poems pay particular attention to the abuse of women subjected to the Mormon practice of polygamy. To East Coasters like me, so far removed from Utah, these poems seem far-fetched, almost exotic. Though polygamy is now illegal everywhere in the U.S., including Utah, Millie’s poems shine light on a cultural practice that still reverberates—in a way that should strengthen our resolve to keep pressing for equal rights for women everywhere.
April 25, 2026—This may come as a shock, but it’s not all about me. I frequently travel up the road (this time to Sylvia, NC) to hear friends read from their new books. I love to do so and it keeps me humble, clears my head. In this case, the place was City Lights Bookstore and the friends were Lee Stockdale and Greg Lobas. I first met Lee at Queens University of Charlotte, also in the MFA program, circa 2014. The author of recently published Bronxville, Lee’s poem, “My Dead Father’s General Store in the Middle of a Desert,” won the 2022 United Kingdom National Poetry Competition. Greg and I met last year. His book, Left of Center, won the prestigious Dogfish Poetry Award, the only poetry prize awarded by a brewery, as far as I know. Sadly, the brewery’s new owners have no interest in continuing the award—Greg’s award will be the last of its ilk. His poems are rich with firefighting, tragedy, history, and recently, the land- and seascapes of North Carolina’s Outer Banks.
April 13, 2026—How many poets do you know who can sell tickets to their poetry book launch? Add Mamie Morgan to that short list. Mamie formerly taught advanced English and creative writing to the whiz kids at the Governor’s School of the Arts. She still teaches occasional workshops, is widely published, and has a big following that includes former students, parents of former students, writers of all genres, and a good many folks who know nothing about poetry but attend with their poetry-loving spouses. This year, Mamie launched her latest poetry collection, Midsummer Night’s Toast, in Greenville, SC, “in conversation” with her best friend and popular novelist Ashley Warlick, author of The Summer After June, a book that proved I can enjoy a romance novel when the writing is that good.
Mamie Morgan and Ashley Warlick at The Radio Room in Greenville
March 1 and April 12, 2026—I visited Lancaster, SC, and Columbia, SC, respectively, plus a few other venues. Have you seen the 2025 edition of the Kakalak Anthology of Poetry and Art? It looks a lot like the cake pictured below, presented at the book launch in Lancaster. Al Black, pictured at the Columbia reading in Allgood Books, is one of about a hundred poets with work featured in Kakalak 2025. I chose Al to represent this year’s “Kakalakers” because of his chic wardrobe and to point out that he does more for poets and poetry in South Carolina than just about anybody else I can think of. I happen to be a good friend of the current executive editor and publisher of Kakalak, Anne Kaylor, and visited with her recently at her retreat in the Boone area.
March 14, 2026—Once again, the Poetry Society of South Carolina hosted a distinguished poet for a reading and workshop at the Greenville, SC, Creative Arts Center. J. Drew Lanham, author, wildlife biologist, and 2022 winner of a MacArthur Fellowship (commonly called “genius grant”), read his own poems and inspired the audience to make their voices count in the quest for social justice and good governance.
February 20-22, 2026—I am forever proud to call myself a protégé of Maureen Ryan Griffin, my first “real” poetry teacher, who leads coastal writing retreats at Sunset Beach, NC, in February and November each year. Yes, I did have English teachers before Maureen, but none were published poets, to my knowledge, and they mostly talked about Shakespeare and Wordsworth (not that there’s anything wrong with that). Following the methodology of Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way, Maureen has built her private business not so much on teaching people how to write as inspiring them to write. Whatever she does works for me. That’s why I keep going back year after year. I have also become attached to the friends I see there and the cuisine at La Cucina Italian Grill of Sunset Beach, my favorite restaurant.
Maureen Ryan Griffin’s Coastal Writing Retreat Group at La Cucina Italian Grill
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February 14, 2026—Based in Charleston, Poetry Society of South Carolina (PSSC) has extended its outreach to other parts of the state in recent years. On Valentine’s Day, PSSC Members Joshua Blankenship (left) and Glenis Redmond (right) hosted special guest Jaki Shelton Green, Poet Laureate of North Carolina, who presented a reading and workshop at the Greenville, SC, Center for Creative Arts. In addition to her service as a PSSC member, Glenis is the first and current Poet Laureate of Greenville.
Other Events, Many Dates, Many Places
I’m grateful to people and groups too numerous to list here. But I will mention a few.
Uncommon Writers is the small, mixed genre writers’ group I meet with in Greenville at least twice a month, for critique and to generate new writing. Recently, we had a writing retreat at a lovely house in the NC mountains.
And I’m a member of Upstate Poets, a group of “advanced” poets in Greenville. We meet monthly to discuss and critique one poem per poet.
Also monthly, I connect in Zoom with the No Rhyme Nor Reason Poetry Book Club, a group electronically centered at Scuppernong Books in Greensboro, NC, and co-hosted by Brian Lampkin and Adam Winkle. These folks are really serious about poetry, and we usually read and discuss more challenging poets than I would otherwise choose, sometimes works translated from languages other than English. I feel like the dumbest kid in the class when I’m with these folks, but it keeps me on my toes.
I participate in a couple other Zoom critique groups of note: one led by Kathleen Calby in Hendersonville, NC, and the other led by Joan Leotta in Virginia.
I’m a member of several literary organizations with reasonable dues structures (and whose membership is open to anyone): North Carolina Writers Network (they have great conferences), North Carolina Poetry Society (great meetings, seminars, and contests) and Poetry Society of South Carolina (another great resource for readings, workshops, and more contests).
Uncommon Writers at a writing retreat in the NC mountains.
Pictured: Jaime Hammer, Millie Tullis, Sophie Pike, Angie Thompson, Julie Dangler, Richard Allen Taylor, Sarah Luke, Melody Powell
Final Aside
I’m having a wonderful time being a poet, retired from my day job and enjoying the fellowship of friends and other writers.
You may want to consider some of the organizations and activities I’ve mentioned as resources for your own writing life. I’ll add to this list as opportunities arise, so check back from time to time.
As I am fond of saying, may you find something every day to make you feel venerable and magnificent.
Richard
Richard Allen Taylor, Poet 