Bio

Jo Barbara Taylor grew up in Indiana and now lives outside of Raleigh, NC. She taught English in public school for 21 years. Her poems and academic writing have appeared in journals, magazines and anthologies. She leads poetry workshops for the North Carolina Poetry Society and OLLI through Duke Continuing Education. She has published four chapbooks, the most recent, High Ground published by Main Street Rag, 2013.

use
one
word, then
two–a thought
that grows into a line

words
together
like lovers
hum a rhyme
dance in three four time

play
with
the sounds
music in alliteration
of nouns, assonance in verbs

treat
space
like air
reverse two lines
here and there, tab twice

peel
repetition
and cliché
preen till the
poem speaks its own language