My Poetry

An April Evening with a Cat

Copyright 2015 by Abbie Johnson Taylor

 

 

She lies beside you on the bed, content,

purring as your hand moves

from head to shoulders to her belly’s soft warmth.

Outside, a robin serenades the world.

The cat’s paws twitch with her dream of stalking it.

Nothing is lacking,

as April’s last light fades.

 

Back Story

 

As a kid, I loved sprawling on my bed with one of our cats in the evening, especially when troubled about something. I wrote this poem ten years ago, then forgot about it until recently when searching for poems to submit to The Avocet. When I wrote it, I  called it “Satisfaction Like a Sated Cat.” But I changed the title and revised the poem to appeal to readers of The Avocet. It appears in the spring quarterly issue. I hope you enjoyed it and thank you for reading.

 

New! Living Vicariously in Wyoming: Stories

Copyright 2025 by Abbie Johnson Taylor

Published independently with the help of DLD Books.

 

The scene shows an isolated barn off to the right in a snowy field, probably shortly after sunset. The foreground is a mixture of white, blue, and brown shades. Behind the barn is a line of dense, dark trees, many of them evergreens. The sky is the pink one sometimes sees at sunset, and a full moon hangs above the treetops to the left. The title is in plain black letters against the sky with a white glow behind them. The author’s name is in white letters near the bottom of the cover.

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.

 

Click here for more information and ordering links.

 

Abbie wears a blue and white V-neck top with different shades of blue from sky to navy that swirl together with the white. She has short, brown hair and rosy cheeks and smiles at the camera against a black background.

Photo Courtesy of Tess Anderson Photography

Photo Resize and Description

by Two Pentacles Publishing

About My Monthly Newsletter

 

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