Sonnet for Ellen Kort | Arts + Literature Laboratory | Madison Contemporary Arts Center

Sonnet for Ellen Kort

Most of us remember you as Mentor
the way you spread your wisdom everywhere,
always sensing where our poems were going,
and showing us how we could get them there.
We also thought of you as Storyteller,
with the powers of a Master Crafter—
surprising us with sudden clarity,
painful honesty, and even laughter.
But mostly we appreciate your poems
for all their possibilities, good will,
invention, empathy and love. Thank you
for what you gave us, and are giving still—
encouragement, and the validation
we’ve learned to call by name: your inspiration.

Marilyn L. Taylor
Wisconsin Poet Laureate, 2009/2010

About the Author

Wisconsin Poet Marilyn L. Taylor

Marilyn L. Taylor, Ph.D., is a former Poet Laureate of the state of Wisconsin and the city of Milwaukee. She taught poetry for the Honors College at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee for fifteen years, and is the author of eight poetry collections. Taylor’s poems and essays have also appeared in Poetry, Able Muse, Measure, Light, Raintown Review, and Rhino, among many other well-known journals and anthologies. She was awarded the Margaret Reid Poetry Prize for verse in forms, and has been a finalist for the X.J. Kennedy Parody Contest, the Howard Nemerov Sonnet award, and the 2017 Lascaux Review prize. She teaches regularly at Lawrence University’s Bjorklunden Seminar Center and elsewhere, and serves as a Contributing Editor for two poetry journals (Verse-Virtual and Third Wednesday). Her newest book, titled Outside the Frame: New and Selected Poems, was published by Kelsay Books in December, 2021... Read More


February 2022

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Arts + Literature Laboratory is located at 111 S. Livingston Street #100, Madison, Wisconsin, 53703.

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