April and Back Again
An intimate year-in-poems capturing the joy and dread of getting older, growing a family, the world’s news … and the miracles—no bigger than a child’s hand—that keep us going.
Available from Publishing Genius
ADVANCE PRAISE
“In Claire Taylor’s marvelous collection of poems, April and Back Again, we are taken through the seasons of the calendar but also the seasons of this life: the springs of childbirth and nature’s awe, the summers of love and longing, the autumns of query and remembrance, the winters of illness and depression–and everything in between. In poems both elegiac and celebratory, Taylor maps the daily duties that define not just existing but living. On one hand, we interact with Mike Johnson, Chuck Knoblauch, and Rainer Maria Rilke and on the other we mourn the loss of a pet, we celebrate the growth of a child, we grieve the vulnerabilities of democracy, we feel the reassurance of tenderness. “I suppose some places aren’t places worth leaving,” writes Taylor. If by places she means this life, I’m in. If by places she means this book, then I could not agree more.” —Dean Rader, winner, T.S. Eliot Prize
ONe GOOD THING
One good thing is turning your anti-anxiety practice into a poetry collection.
With this series of thirteen prose poems, all but one of which share the same title and opening line, One Good Thing invites readers to witness the unspooling of Claire Taylor’s mind. Born from a pandemic practice in which the author managed her anxiety by taking long walks through her neighborhood and focusing her attention on one good thing she could see, remember, or imagine, One Good Thing is a carefully crafted stream of consciousness.
A blend of memory and dream, this collection embraces the reality that happiness must coexist with suffering. A pandemic reflection that is not about the pandemic, One Good Thing encourages the reader to let it all in: joy and heartache, grief and pleasure, a life that cannot be distilled into a solitary experience.
Mother Nature
A chapbook of essays & poetry on motherhood & the postpartum experience.
Available in print $10 +s/h
or
get a digital copy for a price of your choosing (currently unavailable)
AS LONG AS WE GOT EACH OTHER
A micro-chapbook weaving the lyrics from the Growing Pains’ theme song into poetry and short prose about intimacy, loss, and relationships during the teenage years.
This collection is part of Growing Pains Microchap Volume 1 from ELJ Editions
A History
of Rats
A micro-chapbook of prose vignettes about my real-life encounters with rodents.
Cover art by
Jonathan Taylor & Rachael Harbert
PDF Version available from Ghost City Press
Little Thoughts
A collection of stories and poetry for kids featuring beautiful, full-color illustrations.
$10
CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT
PRAISE FOR LITTE THOUGHTS
“Claire Taylor's accessible, evocative poetry and prose illuminate the delight in joyful moments while tackling difficult ones with authenticity. In her collection Little Thoughts, Taylor writes of indomitable children like Ruthie, whose infectious positivity right-side-ups an upside down world, and Benny, who yearns to twirl in his tutu without feeling self-conscious. Taylor mirrors her characters' (and readers') inner worlds with poems that revere the natural world - its beautiful, freezing winters and life-affirming summer blooms. Alongside Taylor's work, Rachael Harbert's expressive, warm illustrations enliven the imagination. In Harbert's multimedia pieces, one can sense the rattling of an old car, the loneliness and possibility in a brand new bedroom, and the whoosh of a night train. Together, through pen and paintbrush, this collection welcomes the reader into the dreamy, inquisitive, ever-changing inner world of the child. It deserves a spot on every family's bookshelf.”
-Brigit Young, author of Worth a Thousand Words and The Prettiest