Books

Local Writer’s Poetry Heard Nationwide

Caitlin Heidbrink |

Garrison Keillor recently lent his famously soggy and soothing voice to the poetry of local writer Bruce Taylor on NPR’s nationally syndicated Writer’s Almanac show. Keillor read “Middle-Aged Men, Leaning,” as a part of his literature radio series where he recounts poems, prose, and literary history. Also a Professor Emeritus of Creative Writing and American Literature at UW-Eau Claire, Taylor’s poem comes from Pity the World, a collection of his work. Both his poem and the compilation reach out from within the head of a man, focusing on simplicities of life and deep considerations of one’s purpose and experience in the everyday. Taylor’s work now holds a spot on the Writer’s Almanac daily poem resume, which includes featured work by legends like Maya Angelou and Elizabeth Browning. Not bad company.