Mildred Taylor
2011 Pennsylvania Senior Poet Laureate

Mildred Taylor, 76, Ligonier, retired after teaching in elementary school for 36 years, but currently tutors two students. She is an avid reader of fiction, biographies and poetry and has been a member of the Pittsburgh Poetry Society for 38 years. She is also a member of the Pennsylvania Poetry Society. Mildred has three children, five grandchildren, two dogs and one cat. She has had several poems published. This is her first Senior Poet Laureate award. When not writing or reading, she loves gardening. Her sun sign is Taurus.

The Rebel

Surely she felt
simmering desire,
the strong sting of must
as she eyed the tree,
its branches weighted
with almost heart-shaped fruit;
their shining skins, bold reds,
denied her by the Supreme pronouncement.
The lust for one single bite
lit a fire in her
that ate her sleep, food, drink.
She became a hunger,
an appetite infinitely more appealing
than unending happiness.
She longed to taste the succulent flesh
beneath the glistening skin,
to know being.
Her heart ached for the new
as she dared
reach her arm, open her hand,
bare her teeth.