Outside the Frame

THREE BLURBS FOR OUTSIDE THE FRAMEBY MARILYN L. TAYLORLike favorite wines, the poems of Marilyn Taylor keep revealing new depths. First we delight in their freshness—the surprise of their wit and storytelling, the zest of their earthy humor. Then we notice how finely and patiently crafted they are, with little miracles of diction to fire the brain and charm the senses of her thankful reader. At last we come to the deeper mystery of Taylor’s achievement: how an intelligence so lively, supple, and wise can be wholly concentrated in the written word. At which point we scratch our heads wondering,How does she do that?And we drink again. —David Southward, author of Bachelor's Buttons and ApocryphaOutside the Frame, a new and selected collection of Marilyn Taylor’saccomplished, witty, and poignant poems, offers readers a wild ride through life in Aunt Eudora's Harlequin romances, crickets’ chorales, Shostakovich’s 5th Symphony, the demands of aging, and even a notice from the Sweet Chariot Funeral Parlor. Her voice is so upbeat that we almost forget she’s talking about how short our time is here, and her verbal high jinks are so much fun we nearly fail to notice the formidable formal skill at play in her villanelles, sestinas, rondeaus, and signature crowns of sonnets. Read it twice—once for her company through life, once just to marvel at her maker’s skill! —Robin Chapman, author of The Only Home We KnowWilliam Carlos Williams said, “If it ain’t a pleasure, it ain’t a poem.” I say if it ain’t a Marilyn L. Taylor poem, it ain’t the absolute pleasure it ought to be.New and Selected Poems from Marilyn Taylor. What a gift. What a way to discover a poet without whom contemporary American poetry would be a poorer place, indeed. What a pleasure to read poems that are like tasting the nuanced notes of a fine merlot, that are like experiencing the subtle harmony and counterpoint of a Chopin nocturne. What a pleasure to read poems that leave you refreshed and energized and smiling rather than beat up and exhausted and cursing under your breath. Marilyn Taylor’s poetry. What a pleasure. —J.R. Solanche, author most recently of Selected Poems 2002-2021