In this, the author’s third collection, narrative poems transport readers from Rose’s childhood on a Missouri farm– moonlit outdoor baths on hot summer nights, enjoying homemade ice cream, neighbors helping one another at threshing time – to Wyoming, where she receives sound advice from an employer, deals with telemarketers, and prepares pancakes, sausages, and poached eggs despite difficulty walking. Along the way, she expresses gratitude for even the smallest things. This book offers a lot for which to be thankful. To get your copy, email the author at: arhpoet@yahoo.com .
I met Rose years ago through Range Writers, a local organization here in Sheridan, Wyoming, that has since dissolved. She provided helpful feedback on my work, and we traveled to many writers’ conferences together, where we shared a motel room. When I had my last colonoscopy several years ago, she drove me to and from the surgery center and was there when I was recovered and ready to go home. Rose and I both enjoy participating in our monthly Third Thursday Poets group meetings, and I value our friendship.
Rose has a lot of stories to tell. After her family moved here to Sheridan, Wyoming, when she was an adolescent, her first job was as a maid at a local mansion that is now a historic site. She also worked for the phone company and helped manage her husband’s radiator business, among other things. In 2015, she served as Wyoming’s senior poet laureate. Now, in her 80th or 90th decade, she has compiled three poetry collections. She’s an inspiration to us all.
I love the narrative quality of Rose’s poems. My favorite is “Use Your Head,” in which she dispenses advice she received from her first employer, advice I try to follow in my daily life.
***
As a teenager I became a maid
in the household of a long dead
former Wyoming governor.
Imagine a Missouri country girl
who grew up without running water
or indoor plumbing, arriving at the door
of the Kendrick Mansion for an initial
interview.
***
Having taken piano lessons as a child, I could relate to “Thursday is for Piano Lessons.”
***
Lucky in rural Missouri to find an experienced teacher
who played as if born to it. My aspiration was to play
The Blackhawk Waltz as she did.
***
“Threshing Day” and other poems about Rose’s childhood on a Missouri farm reminded me of Laura Ingals Wilder’s Little House Series. Of course, things were different when Laura was growing up a hundred years before.
***
I can hear the screech and rumble yet.
My earliest memories of threshing day
in Missouri, in the days before the combine,
begin with the arrival of the threshing machine
the day before.
***
If you’re Rose’s age and grew up on the farm, I’m sure you’ll relate to many of her poems. But if not, I bet you’ll be fascinated by Rose’s life, as told through her poetry. I recommend Gratitude to anyone interested in personal history. Thank you for reading.
Photo Courtesy of Tess Anderson Photography
Photo Resize and Description
by Two Pentacles Publishing
New! Living Vicariously in Wyoming: Stories
Copyright 2025 by Abbie Johnson Taylor
Published independently with the help of DLD Books.
Image Description written by Leonore Dvorkin of DLD Books.
As defined in the first story, living vicariously means living your life through someone else’s. You’re invited to live vicariously through the lives of the people in these stories. There’s the lawyer who catches his wife in the act with a nun. A college student identifies with a character in a play. A young woman loses her mother and finds her father. And a high school student’s prudish English teacher strenuously objects to a single word in her paper.
In Wyoming, as in any other state, people fall in love, and sometimes relationships are shattered. Accidents, domestic violence, prejudice, and crimes all occur. Lives are torn apart, and people are reunited. Ordinary people deal with everyday and not–so–everyday situations.
The 25 stories in this collection, most of which are set in Wyoming, are about how the various characters resolve their conflicts—or not.
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