My Poetry

We Struggle Through Winter’s Stillness (An Etheree)

Copyright 2025 by Abbie Johnson Taylor

 

 

 

Snow

flutters

in white flakes

cascading down

from a milky sky.

In the silent city,

cars slip and slide through slick streets.

Sidewalks, grass, trees are swathed in white,

while falling flakes obscure our vision,

as we make our way where we need to go.

 

Author’s Note

 

In the etheree poetry form, there are ten lines. The first line has one syllable, and each subsequent line contains one more syllable than the one before it. The last line has ten syllables. When the poem is centered on the page, this creates an interesting design, almost like an upside-down Christmas tree.

This poem was published in the winter issue of The Avocet, which can be downloaded here. 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

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