BOOK REVIEW: Facing Toward the East
Taylor, Carroll S. Facing Toward the East, Poems of Redemption, Redhawk Publications, 2024. 107 Pages. Trade paperback. $16.00. redhawkpublications.com.
Author Carroll S. Taylor unflinchingly describes "death" in her new poetry book, Facing Toward the East, poems of Redemption. Redhawk Publications, The Catawba Valley Community College Press, recently released this page-turning collection.
An underlying theme of Taylor's book is redemption. The poems resound with the hope of resurrection:
Facing toward the East:
For the dead, hope for the resurrection.
For the living, hope for a new beginning,
rising each day with the morning sun.
Her book is character driven. She gives rounded sketches of friends and family who have gone to glory. The imagery is not morbid, but refreshing. New beginnings. Taylor describes loved ones who influenced her growing up in rural Georgia. Black-and-white photographs sprinkled throughout the pages beg the reader to learn more about these people.
Taylor's poem, "Mama," is universal. A reminder to everyone there / once she was young and beautiful / with a smile that lit up a room / not with a lost look / her eyes filled with confusion. Ella's Quilt was passed down to the poet's son Zach in 2013 and is now ninety years old. Warp and Weft weaves the threads of Taylor's life. When I am gone / what will be left of me? / What will I leave behind for my family?
You'll find poems about unique women in this collection. "Miss Dorothy" had an air of being sad and out of place /like an old tinsel Christmas wreath / left hanging on a porch in March. "Miss Rose" buzzed down the dirt road / kicking up a cloud of red dust. ...Was she marrying men for love / or looking to fix the world / one old drunk at a time?
Baby boomers who attended public schools will relate to "The Shot Lady." Children lined up with fear to receive inoculations. Clinical, almost soulless, / with a mission to complete / for the county health department / she must vaccinate them all.
As a retired educator, the poem, "Miss Blanche," intrigued me. I could just see the teacher in her third grade classroom. She spoke with a soft voice / yet raised it to a firmer pitch if need be. / Always positive, never degrading. At her funeral, almost everyone taught by Miss Blanche stood. She never married, or had children of her own. It seems Miss Blanche had children after all.
Additionally, Taylor included poems about the men who crossed her path. She describes in "Virgil's Hand" the painful abuse of his children and slapping his wife. He raised his hand / to affirm his dominance / in a house filled with rage.
Her prose poem gives an vivid description of her grandfather in "Conversations with a Storyteller." You can see him rolling the Prince Albert cigarette, plowing the cotton field after the war, settling into marriage. How many stories you reckon you've forgot? Never could read much / Never wrote 'em down. / That's a shame, aint' it? / I would've liked to hear 'em. / Tell me one you remember, Grandpa.
Southern writers often include religion in their work. Taylor's poem, "The Preacher" portrays a fiery evangelist pounding his hands on / the pulpit like he was / driving out the devil. I've attended many revivals with the fire and brimstone messages.
The author writes with knowledge about her Southern culture. Taylor grew up on a dirt road in rural Georgia. A graduate of Tift College, she is a writer, poet, and playwright. She is the author of two young adult novels, Chinaberry Summer and Chinaberry Summer: On the Other Side as well as two children's books, Feannag the Crow and Ella's Quilt. Her poems and stories have appeared in anthologies and online. Her plays have been performed onstage at the Peacock Performing Arts Center in Hayesville, North Carolina.
A retired educator, Taylor is a member of North Carolina Writer's Network and the Georgia Poetry Society. Snakes, turtles, lizards, and frogs often find their way into her writing. She and her husband, Hugh, live in Hiawassee, Georgia, where she feeds a visiting crow family whose antics inspire her to write every day.
Finally, despite the pain and death present in this patchwork of Southern memories, this book ends with redemption. The stories of remarkable people still live in the heart of the author. This poetry collection cries out to face the rising sun with fierce determination!
Facing Toward the East, Poems of Redemption, by: Carroll S. Taylor is available at: redhawkpublications.com.
Book review written and posted by: Brenda Kay Ledford
Originally Published at ncwriters.org, North Carolina Writers’ Network Blog
Reprinted with permission of Brenda Kay Ledford