by Jo Taylor

— In Anticipation of Husband’s Bone Marrow Transplant

I’d like to say I am petal-open
to the miracle October will bring, 
but if truth be known, I am
like the fainting goat, stiffening,
seizing, even keeling over 
from excitement and fear and dread. 
I want to rush the hours to get to warm
days when your tired marrow surrenders
to new life. Yet, to hasten the moment 
might mean missing out on the marvels
of today. So, help me, Lord, even now, 
to slow down, to be content with imagining
the smell of the birthday cake in the oven, 
the sound of ice tinkling in the glasses, 
the oboe pitching the A for orchestra’s 
warmup. 

Jo Taylor is a retired, 35-year English teacher from Georgia.  Her favorite genre to teach high school students was poetry, and today she dedicates more time to writing it, her major themes focused on family, place, and faith. She says she writes to give testimony to the past and to her heritage. In 2021 she published her first collection of poems, Strange Fire.  She enjoys walking in early morning, playing with her two grandsons, and collecting and reading cookbooks.