Last weekend I had the great joy to read my poem at the Hoffman Center for the Arts in Manzanita, Oregon, which is just up the road from where I learned to read and write at Garibaldi Grade School. To feel the trajectory of my writing come back to where it started 60 years ago was a homecoming of sorts, and the loss I felt as a child leaving the North Coast was replaced with the understanding that this place had never left me.
Judge Lana Ayers who selected my poem for the 2022 Neahkahnie Mountain Poetry Prize had this to say about “Birthday Fires”.
“Birthday Fires is a marvel of imagery and complexity in 9 couplets. The fires are birth, creativity, life. The poem reminds us that even as hardships and sorrows sap joy, we can still celebrate and make our own light, as in the final captivating image of the poem.”
Yours in poetry,
Carey
Carey Taylor 
Hi Ruth! Thanks Ruth! I sure miss you and hope we see each other soon!
Hi Steph, Thanks for reading my blog post and sharing about my poem. I sure miss you all.
Hi Dan, Thanks so much for the kind words. I appreciate you remembering it.
Congratulations Carey. It is an exquisite poem. A distillation of so much. I’m glad you got your homecoming.
Thank you, Carey, for sharing your joy and gratitude for having your poem chosen for this special event. A wonderful full-circle, of your creative process over your life time. I can imagine your joy. Bravo, my friend.
En-joy. Ruth
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Hi Carey, — I am glad to have this poem brought to my attention once again, always thought provoking and enjoyable reading. Congratulations on your reading and your prize. — Dan
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