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The Poet Behind
World Class Poetry

Hi. I'm Allen Taylor.

I once was an up-and-coming young poet, but now I'm an old has-been wanna be. I'd like to prevent you from taking the path that I took and help you succeed in your dreams of becoming a world class poet.

I've always been a dreamer. From age 10, I've wanted to be a writer. My first heroes were novelists - Beverly Cleary, Agatha Christie, Peter Benchley, Robert Heinlein, J.R.R. Tolkien, Ernest Hemingway, just to name a few.

When I left home in 1984, after graduating high school, I joined the Army. In 1987 I left the Army and went to college. It was there that I started writing poetry. I spent two years as an undergraduate at Richland Community College in Dallas, Texas. I started to study the literary classics and got hooked. In 1989, I transferrred to the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) and took up a major in Interdisciplinary Studies.

At UTD I took my first poetry workshop with Sheryl St. Germain. I fell in love - not with Sheryl, but with the craft. I made it my life. It happened when I read Satan Says by Sharon Olds. I was knocked off of my feet. Sharon Olds opened up my imagination and I wrote my first poem, "The Threesome" in the style and manner of her title poem. It blew my fellow workshop participants away. Half of them returned the poem without critique. I felt free - and somewhat evil.

In those days I would spend hours writing. By hand. That's right, traditional pen and paper. Then, once composed, I would type my poems into my Canon word processor. Then I'd edit them, line by line, making marks in pencil. Then I'd go back and retype them and reprint. I'd do this over and over again until each poem was just the way I wanted it. The process took hours just to write one poem. There were days when I wouldn't even leave the house. I'd spend 15 hours writing, taking breaks only to eat, shower and take care of necessary bodily functions. Needless to say, that painstaking process - plus the fact that I read everything I could get my hands on - trained me to write poetry.

Well, you know, things change. People change. The world - it changes. You know the line (wink wink).

OK, long story short, I had a Bob Dylan moment. After the Flood sort of thing. I converted to Christianity, almost against my will.

I know, I know. That sounds weird. But, you know, things change. And sometimes, poets do too. I stopped writing poetry for awhile. In fact, after becoming a Christian, I burned most of my poems, including my Sharon Olds inspired poem. I burned all the poems I had not had published at the time. That was it. Kaput. Poetry gone.

I must say, however, I really jumped into Christianity with both feet. Bible reading every day, hard core prayer, church three times a week. I was a member of the largest cult in the world. Yes, big time.

Then, about three years later, I started writing poetry again. Mostly religious poetry. Some of it was quite good, but I don't think any of it was nearly as good as the poetry I had written between 1989 and 1992. I was prolific in those days. And profound. Not a bit humble, though.

I continued to write poetry off and on for a number of years but didn't seek publication. Not much. Only sporadically.

In 1997 I joined the National Guard. Can you say, "Big mistake?"

I thought I might be used to do a few useful things for my state - you know, Texas - and my local community. I went to officer candidate school, then to the armor officer basic course at Fort Knox, Kentucky. I was training to be a killer, hoping I'd never have to actually do it. In 2001, when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center, my heart sunk to my feet as I watched on live television the next American war unfold right before my very eyes. I knew what that meant - sort of.

Of course, things don't always roll out the way you think they will. I knew I'd play a part in the war on terror but I had no clue that my president would wage a pre-emptive attack on a nation that had no plans to attack mine. In July 2004, my National Guard unit was activated and by January 2005 I was in Iraq helping George W. Bush prosecute an unjust war. Damn the luck!

I returned home in December 2005 and joined my wife of two years in Pennsylvania, her home state. We now live in a rural community in Adams County, Pennsylvania, aka "Dutch Country." I love it here but the winter's are coooooooold. Hey, things change.

While in Iraq, I had a little bit of extra free time on my hands during the summer months and I began to work on World Class Poetry. Also, during the time that I was deployed I managed to write quite a few poems that I am slowly compiling into a book. My wife and I now run an Internet marketing company and I manage the writing process for a team of writers who provide original online content for webmasters who need to build up their web sites. I still dream. I still write poetry - occasionally. But mostly I wish America was still America again and didn't change quite so much. I do, however, welcome you to World Class Poetry and wish you the best as you pursue publication with your craft.

Read Some of Allen Taylor's Poetry

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