Bright Testimonials

Hollyhock Anchor
The Geniuses Among Us
by Marilyn L. Taylor

They take us by surprise, these tall perennials
that jut like hollyhocks above the canopy
of all the rest of us— ­bright testimonials
to the scale of human possibility.
They come to bloom for every generation,
blazing with extraordinary notions
from the taproots of imagination—­
dazzling us with incandescent visions.
And soon, the things we never thought would happen
start to happen: the solid fences
of reality begin to soften,
crumbling into fables and romances­—
and we turn away from where we've been
to a new place, where light is pouring in.

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Aunt Eudora On Having Outlived All of Her Friends
by Marilyn L. Taylor

What were you thinking, my shortsighted dears—­
how harebrained of you, checking out so soon,
leaving this gorgeous world and all its junk
for me to squander in my waning years?
You were so nuts! Take that see-through cloud,
for instance, silvering the evening sky:
you’d have gone to pieces over that,
I’ll bet; or how about a midnight shred
of Brubeck, seeping through a doorway strung
with lights— ­the city air electrified
and cool— ­while your surviving sister rolls
a sip of Veuve Clicquot along her tongue?
I could have warned you— ­taken you to task
for lousy planning. But you didn’t ask.

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Posted with permission of the poet.

* Marilyn Taylor on poetry collaborations
* Marilyn Taylor info on Writing Without Paper
* An informative, interesting MLT review at Verse Wisconsin 101

Book Aunt has the Poetry Friday round-up today.