The following are samples of my poetry…
Then Suddenly Out Popped This Voice
Even the great Buddy Rich said you were a good drummer. Your voice would soar up the charts later. At sixteen, you sang in tune but lacked vibrato, voice thin as a wafer. You wouldn’t know it was me…
Rediscovering a Forgotten Song
Rarely played fifty years after, “Crescent Noon”
elicits a gasp. My gasp. How can it be? Released
in ’70, this song deserves remembering. Yet…
Charleston Visitor’s Guide
We are pleased to offer you the most
comprehensive vacation guide available.
I’m here for a day—so little time
to comprehend the hum and history…
La Chambre d’écoute, 1952
It’s The Listening Room in English, impossible
in any language except yours, Magritte—
a language of images, not words—and who else
would dare to set a giant green apple in a room
that barely contains it, where sunlight bursts…
Weightless
The ancients believed the sun and moon
were lovers, yet they never touch, each
confined to its separate house, one in fire,
one in coldest light. Their trajectories
never cross but keep their distance…
The Next Generation of Mourning
I have begun, like my mother before me,
to cross out names. She lived to read the obituaries
of all her friends. In my generation, the first girl
I ever kissed is dead, complications of pneumonia.
I saw the email on the way from something…
A Brief History of Ordinary Things
1. Dishes
In the beginning, there were rocks—
some flat, some scooped concave
by erosion, perfect for holding hot
foods but not easily transported
from camp to cave. Tree bark did well
for a while, the clean-up was easy…
Takeoff
From my window seat on the starboard side
I see three aircraft ahead where the taxiway
curves like a shepherd’s crook to the takeoff point.
My new beginning twists all the preparation
and waiting into a coil of anticipation,
pressed down like a jack-in-the-box,
eager to let go at the next turn of the crank…
Richard Allen Taylor, Poet 