Marilyn L. Taylor

Marilyn L. Taylor Poems

Marilyn L. Taylor Biography

Marilyn L. Taylor attended the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where she earned a BS in mass communications, and the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, where she earned an MA in linguistics and a PhD in creative writing. She has published eight collections of poetry, most recently Going Wrong (2009) and The Seven Very Liberal Arts (2006). The Wisconsin poet laureate from 2009 to 2010, Taylor also served as the poet laureate of Milwaukee from 2004 to 2005. After a long career teaching English at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Taylor retired to teach several statewide poetry workshops. She is also a contributing editor to the magazine The Writer.)

The Best Poem Of Marilyn L. Taylor

Reading the Obituaries

Now the Barbaras have begun to die,
trailing their older sisters to the grave,
the Helens, Margies, Nans—who said goodbye
just days ago, it seems, taking their leave
a step or two behind the hooded girls
who bloomed and withered with the century—
the Dorotheas, Eleanors and Pearls
now swaying on the edge of memory.
Soon, soon, the scythe will sweep for Jeanne
and Angela, Patricia and Diane—
pause, and return for Karen and Christine
while Susan spends a sleepless night again.
Ah, Debra, how can you be growing old?
Jennifer, Michelle, your hands are cold

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