Famous Taylor Poems by Famous Poets

These are examples of famous Taylor poems written by some of the greatest and most-well-known modern and classical poets. PoetrySoup is a great educational poetry resource of famous taylor poems. These examples illustrate what a famous taylor poem looks like and its form, scheme, or style (where appropriate).

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The Pin

by Ann Taylor
 "Dear me! what signifies a pin! 
I'll leave it on the floor;
My pincushion has others in,
Mamma has plenty more: 
A miser will I never be," 
Said little heedless Emily. 

So tripping on to giddy play,
She left the pin behind, 
For Betty's broom to whisk away, 
Or some one else to find; 
She never gave a thought, indeed, 
To what...Read more of this...

Shut Up And Eat Your Toad

by Edward Taylor
 The disorganization to which I currently belong
has skipped several meetings in a row
which is a pattern I find almost fatally attractive.
Down at headquarters there's a secretary
and a janitor who I shall call Suzie
and boy can she ever shoot straight.
She'll shoot you straight in the eye if you ask her to.
I mow the grass every other Saturday
and that's the day...Read more of this...

Finery

by Jane Taylor
 In an elegant frock, trimm'd with beautiful lace,
And hair nicely curl'd, hanging over her face,
Young Fanny went out to the house of a friend, 
With a large little party the evening to spend. 

"Ah! how they will all be delighted, I guess,
And stare with surprise at my handsome new dress!" 
Thus said the vain girl, and her little heart...Read more of this...

Again

by Marilyn L Taylor
 The children are back, the children are back—
They’ve come to take refuge, exhale and unpack;
The marriage has faltered, the job has gone bad,
Come open the door for them, Mother and Dad.

The city apartment is leaky and cold,
The landlord lascivious, greedy and old—
The mattress is lumpy, the oven’s encrusted,
The freezer, the fan, and the toilet have rusted.

The company caved, the...Read more of this...

Reading the Obituaries

by Marilyn L Taylor
 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...Read more of this...

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...Read more of this...

At the End

by Marilyn L Taylor
 In another time, a linen winding sheet
would already have been drawn
about her, the funeral drums by now

would have throbbed their dull tattoo
into the shadows writhing 
behind the fire’s eye

while a likeness
of her narrow torso, carved
and studded with obsidian

might have been passed from hand
to hand and rubbed against the bellies
of women with child

and a twist of her gray hair
been dipped...Read more of this...

Restless Leg Syndrome

by Edward Taylor
 After the burial 
we returned to our units 
and assumed our poses. 
Our posture was the new posture 
and not the old sick posture. 
When we left our stations 
it was just to prove we could, 
not a serious departure 
or a search for yet another beginning. 
We were done with all that.
We were settled in, as they say,...Read more of this...

To a Little Girl That Has Told a Lie

by Ann Taylor
 AND has my darling told a lie? 
Did she forget that GOD was by? 
That GOD, who saw the things she did, 
From whom no action can be hid;
Did she forget that GOD could see
And hear, wherever she might be? 

He made your eyes, and can discern
Whichever way you think to turn; 
He made your ears, and he can...Read more of this...

My Felisberto

by Edward Taylor
 My felisberto is handsomer than your mergotroid,
although, admittedly, your mergotroid may be the wiser of the two. 
Whereas your mergotroid never winces or quails, 
my felisberto is a titan of inconsistencies.
For a night of wit and danger and temptation 
my felisberto would be the obvious choice.
However, at dawn or dusk when serenity is desired 
your mergotroid cannot be ignored.
Merely...Read more of this...

Come and Play in the Garden

by Jane Taylor
 Little sister, come away, 
And let us in the garden play,
For it is a pleasant day. 

On the grass-plat let us sit, 
Or, if you please, we'll play a bit, 
And run about all over it. 

But the fruit we will not pick,
For that would be a naughty trick,
And very likely make us sick. 

Nor will we pluck the...Read more of this...

Sleepy Harry

by Jane Taylor
 "I do not like to go to bed," 
Sleepy little Harry said; 
"Go, naughty Betty, go away, 
I will not come at all, I say! "

Oh, silly child! what is he saying? 
As if he could be always playing! 
Then, Betty, you must come and carry
This very foolish little Harry. 

The little birds are better taught,
They go to roosting...Read more of this...

Deaf Martha

by Ann Taylor
 Poor Martha is old, and her hair is turn'd grey, 
And her hearing has left her for many a year; 
Ten to one if she knows what it is that you say, 
Though she puts her poor wither'd hand close to her ear. 

I've seen naughty children run after her fast, 
And cry, "Martha, run, there's a bullock so...Read more of this...

Head of a White Woman Winking

by Edward Taylor
 She has one good bumblebee
which she leads about town
on a leash of clover.
It's as big as a Saint Bernard
but also extremely fragile.
People want to pet its long, shaggy coat.
These would be mostly whirling dervishes
out shopping for accessories.
When Lily winks they understand everything,
right down to the particle
of a butterfly's wing lodged
in her last good eye,
so the situation is avoided,
the potential...Read more of this...

The Lost Pilot

by Edward Taylor
 for my father, 1922-1944

Your face did not rot
like the others--the co-pilot,
for example, I saw him

yesterday. His face is corn-
mush: his wife and daughter,
the poor ignorant people, stare

as if he will compose soon.
He was more wronged than Job.
But your face did not rot

like the others--it grew dark,
and hard like ebony;
the features progressed in their

distinction. If I could cajole
you to come...Read more of this...

The Washing and Dressing

by Ann Taylor
 Ah! why will my dear little girl be so cross,
And cry, and look sulky, and pout? 
To lose her sweet smile is a terrible loss,
I can't even kiss her without. 

You say you don't like to be wash'd and be dress'd,
But would you not wish to be clean? 
Come, drive that long sob from your dear little breast,
This face...Read more of this...

The Definition of Gardening

by Edward Taylor
 Jim just loves to garden, yes he does. 
He likes nothing better than to put on 
his little overalls and his straw hat. 
He says, "Let's go get those tools, Jim." 
But then doubt begins to set in.
He says, "What is a garden, anyway?"
And thoughts about a "modernistic" garden
begin to trouble him, eat away at his resolve. 
He stands...Read more of this...

Jane and Eliza

by Ann Taylor
 There were two little girls, neither handsome nor plain; 
One's name was Eliza, the other's was Jane: 
They were both of one height, as I've heard people say, 
They were both of one age, I believe, to a day. 

'Twas fancied by some, who but slightly had seen them, 
That scarcely a difference was there between them; 
But no...Read more of this...

Frost at Midnight

by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
The Frost performs its secret ministry,
Unhelped by any wind. The owlet's cry
Came loud---and hark, again! loud as before.
The inmates of my cottage, all at rest,
Have left me to that solitude, which suits
Abstruser musings: save that at my side
My cradled infant slumbers peacefully.
`Tis calm indeed! so calm, that it disturbs
And vexes meditation with its strange
And extreme silentness. Sea, hill, and wood,
This...Read more of this...

The Village Green

by Jane Taylor
 On the cheerful village green, 
Skirted round with houses small,
All the boys and girls are seen,
Playing there with hoop and ball. 

Now they frolic hand in hand,
Making many a merry chain; 
Then they form a warlike band,
Marching o'er the level plain. 

Now ascends the worsted ball, 
High it rises in the air, 
Or against the cottage wall, 
Up and...Read more of this...

The List of Famous Hats

by Edward Taylor
 Napoleon's hat is an obvious choice I guess to list as a famous
hat, but that's not the hat I have in mind. That was his hat for
show. I am thinking of his private bathing cap, which in all hon-
esty wasn't much different than the one any jerk might buy at a
corner drugstore now, except for two minor eccentricities. The
first...Read more of this...

Happy As The Day Is Long

by Edward Taylor
 I take the long walk up the staircase to my secret room.
Today's big news: they found Amelia Earhart's shoe, size 9.
1992: Charlie Christian is bebopping at Minton's in 1941.
Today, the Presidential primaries have failed us once again.
We'll look for our excitement elsewhere, in the last snow
that is falling, in tomorrow's Gospel Concert in Springfield.
It's a good day to be...Read more of this...

A Knock On The Door

by Edward Taylor
 They ask me if I've ever thought about the end of
the world, and I say, "Come in, come in, let me
give you some lunch, for God's sake." After a few
bites it's the afterlife they want to talk about.
"Ouch," I say, "did you see that grape leaf
skeletonizer?" Then they're talking about
redemption and the chosen few sitting right by
His side. "Doing...Read more of this...

My Great Great Etc. Uncle Patrick Henry

by Edward Taylor
 There's a fortune to be made in just about everything
in this country, somebody's father had to invent
everything--baby food, tractors, rat poisoning.
My family's obviously done nothing since the beginning
of time. They invented poverty and bad taste
and getting by and taking it from the boss.
O my mother goes around chewing her nails and
spitting them in a jar: You shouldn't be ashamed
of...Read more of this...

Goodtime Jesus

by Edward Taylor
 Jesus got up one day a little later than usual. He had been dream-
ing so deep there was nothing left in his head. What was it?
A nightmare, dead bodies walking all around him, eyes rolled
back, skin falling off. But he wasn't afraid of that. It was a beau-
tiful day. How 'bout some coffee? Don't mind if I do. Take...Read more of this...

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