Katya Sabaroff Taylor Papers

Looking back, I find it remarkable that all 12 of these stories were composed on a typewriter. The Last Essay (age 16) was 20 pages long! I can't say that my writing style has changed much over a lifetime. Maybe the psychic was right when she asked me tenderly (age 28) "You've always been a writer, haven't you?" The cover graphic was created by my daughter, Alana.

Who could be farther apart in background than a college professor and an out of work construction worker who became a prison inmate? This braided memoir of these two individuals reveals what they had in common and their unique gift to me. I believe there is in all o us an intrinsic longing for soul companions to help us recognize and navigate our singular path in life. That is what these men were for me. Perhaps the reader will gain insight into such friendships that have impacted their own journeys. The cover is a sumi-e brush painting I did for McGary's Oriental Art and Philosophy class, age 20.

"Hello Rainbow, I've been thinking of green fields "I think if I am ever to do any worshipping I will do it in the fields or hills or on the shore or sea where one can see and feel the beauty of nature's manifestations. I can feel very reverent in the field even though it is an imaginary one..." A quote from one of Kingston's prison letters to me, 1963.

I was actively involved in the women's movement, both as a writer and photographer. This compilation includes articles published in various movement papers, poetry, a photographic gallery with "iconic" black and white images (developed in my own darkroom), autoharp songs, and a summation essay written years later looking back at that important time in American "herstory." As I expressed in my note to the reader: "This story is still on-going, as is the story of all peoples seeking their full human rights. That said, this compilation represents one small fraction of the beauty, creativity and vision of that era."

As I continued to sort through my many manuscripts, I discovered a few essays, stories, collages and poems that had escaped inclusion in earlier chapbooks. Thus we have an eclectic assortment, including a radical feminist essay written in 1969 (I was 25), reflections on my pregnancy at age 43, "The Adventures of Robin, a Mischievous Kitten" written when my daughter was eight, the tale of a mescaline trip I took in the hills of Berkeley, age 27, some free verse, a sonnet, and a haiku. In other words, this potpourri is a little trip through my life and times. The cover is a collage created in one of my Lifestories classes.

The gap in time between the early and middle stories reveals my dedication to radical journalism and other important pursuits. Between the ages of 24 and 34, I was writing for Liberation News Service or The Richmond Chronicle, working for the women's movement, or getting my massage therapy degree - no time for fiction!

The title story, my first written as Katya, was typed in a hotel room in Leadville, Colorado, on my year-long trip around America. The last story The Island Sanctuary, is literally a transcription of a dream. In between, the tales are, again, a fanciful blend of fact and fiction. Blurring genres is perhaps one of my trademarks.

The majority of these essays were previously published in various magazines or newspapers, or purposely written for my website: (creativeartsandhealing.com). They cover a wide variety of topics, including essays on writing, creative movement, and food, teaching in the prisons, a visit to the Vietnam Wall, and prior to the onset of e-mail, "The Intimacy of Correspondence."

Again, there is a gap, between 45 and 52. I gave birth to my daughter Alana at age 44, and was deeply involved in "immersion" mothering. I wrote aplenty in my journal and for occasional writing classes, but no major short stories were created during this period.

These three anthologies of short stories together represent "the voice of a girl who grows into a woman, with themes that continue to revolve and evolve..." and are a mix of darkness and light. The title story pertains to a couch I slept on in a lake cottage near Ithaca, NY, that really did tell stories, as you shall discover.

One day I picked up a second hand paperback of Harlequin romance stories. I had never read one and wondered why so many women did. I was surprised at how engaging they were, and I wondered to myself if I could write a series of lesbian-themed short stories to appeal to that group of women. However, once I started typing, the characters got a hold of me, just as with Inn at Stone Cairns, and I soon realized I had novella length fiction. Fancy Nanette remains one of my favorite examples of seaside storytelling. The cover and inner paintings were created by a local artist, Susan Peacock.

My longest ever piece of fiction all began when one of my pen-pals suggested we write a short story based on the seed phrase "Room with a view." I later changed the title to Inn at Stone Cairns, (due to E.M. Forster already having a famous book by that title.) This is an example of a tale that ran away with itself. The characters dominated my consciousness and told me exactly what they wanted. When my pen pal finally pushed me to send the story(!) -- now a novella -- I realized I had better find an ending. You'll have to read the manuscript to see what transpired with Sandra Diego, the protagonist, Thomas the innkeeper, Dory, the innkeeper's daughter, and Sandra's fictional characters Dahlia and Liddy.

At the beginning of 2015, in scrolling through my hard drive folder "Creative 2014," I was struck by how many entries there were. While every year is different (one year I wrote over a hundred sonnets, another year I wrote Out the Window poems daily, one year I was enchanted with villanelles), this particular year I had written fourteen 700-word stories, as well as essays for an on-line group, and for a women's writing circle, as well as a host of poems. This chapbook is truly a testament to my enduring devotion to "the wisdom of the pen," and the helpful guidance of my Muse. The cover is a photo of a silk painting of the author, at age 56, on her backyard swing. Compare the bio picture at the top of this catalogue, for the 70 year old version (also wearing a kimono, also on the backyard swing, feet crossed, and holding a journal of course!)

This collection compiles poems of Katya's that have not yet been anthologized, written between the ages of 18 to 65. The primarily free-verse poems include the author's brief notes to the reader, to place the poem in "time and space." The cover picture shows Katya at age 50, at St. George Island, her favorite beach get-away. Tracking Messages complements her first chapbook A Dream to Ride On, also a chronological selection (from age 11 to 58). From the poem "It's Been So Long, Muse": "It's been so long, muse/since you've dragged me by my hair/into your marvelous cave/the one where the writing is so bold although/ thousands of years old..."

A brief trajectory of seven decades of living. Written on a beach retreat at St. George Island, FL in one week's time. (Feb. '15) The cover shows me at age 27, with my Nikkormat camera.

As my 60th birthday approached, I decided to create a slideshow of my "life and times," from earliest photos to latest (age 59 1/2). I combed through boxes of old photos and chose 27 to represent the different stages of my life. For each picture, I wrote an accompanying haiku. The first photo (and haiku) shows me in my mom's arms when I was a baby. The last shows me on a swing in Costa Rica at the age of 59. And everything in between: childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and all the various personas and chapters that followed. I then made three copies of the slide show in booklet form. (Alas, the original show has not survived.) I hope at some point to bring this record up to date (from 6o to 70).

This book was compiled as a way to pass on my methodology of teaching writing over a period of more than 25 years to people from all walks of life. My hope was that individuals who couldn't personally enroll in my classes, would use the book as a curriculum, and form their own groups. Each chapter offers a different technique or set of exercises, and many seed phrases are offered to help evoke the material waiting to be expressed. A student-writing sampler is included.

This is a blank lined book a person is invited to write in, with seed prompts on the top of each page to help evoke their stories.

Examples: A magic time... My name... A road not taken...

A compilation of many years of my own Haiku poems and the poems of my diverse students -- schoolchildren, elders, prison inmates, artists, high school and college students, etc. Chapters are based on themes familiar to this Japanese essence poem: moon haiku, rain haiku, haiku of the seasons, etc. The book is written such that the reader is encouraged to write their own haiku, or offer a Haiku Hour on their own.

Under the covers/ I lie enchanted - ping ping/ here comes the Spring rain

A compilation of Faith columns written for the local newspaper (The Tallahassee Democrat), and eight sermons delivered at my local Unitarian Universalist Church, on such themes as: Poetry and the Religious Experience; Rediscovering my Jewish Origins; Mother's Day; Zen Eyes, Beginner's Eyes; and The Wisdom of the Pen.

At the age of 34, I took a year-long journey around America, looking for a new place to settle. I conducted healing touch workshops and kept a detailed journal of my trip, as well as writing a variety of poems. While packing for my adventure, I put in a sheaf of some of my favorite poems from age 18-33. When I arrived in Blacksburg, Virginia where my parents (both professors) were living, I decided to stay with them long enough to produce a volume of my poetry, in time for my upcoming 35th birthday. The book has two sections, the "early" poems, and the "Pilgrimage" poems composed during the first six months of my time on the road. The cover photo shows me at the summit of a mountain I climbed in Vermont.

Fly wild bird / your feet are roses falling in the sky, / You quack at me wanting everything / ducks want, so simple I have to turn away (1970, age 26)

I settled in Roanoke, Virginia where I met a kindred spirit, Lyn Yeatts, a local artist and writer. We occasionally got together to share creative moments. One day we decided to open a bag of Norse rune stones -- with engraved "letters" -- and use them to inspire poems. We each wrote a verse spontaneously on whatever the rune brought to mind. We enjoyed the results so much we decided to put together an anthology. Meanwhile, we had met up with a local photographer who enjoyed photographing us dancing. The cover and inside photos (black and white silhouettes) helped us choose the title for our collection. The figure on the left (with long hair) is Katya; a series of us is also on the inside back cover.

At age 43 I married Tom Taylor, and gave birth to our daughter, Alana. Soon we moved from Virginia to Oklahoma where my husband got a job teaching at the university in Norman. I was now 46 years old. I noticed a class being offered to "seniors" on Writing our Life Stories. Since I taught journal- keeping I thought it would be fun to take a class taught by someone else. The instructor allowed me in even though I was not yet a senior. The course was taught chronologically: birth, early school years, later school years, college, career, children, etc. etc. We wrote a chapter for each session, and enjoyed sharing aloud. I hired a part time baby sitter so I would have two hours a day free to write. By the end of the course, I had completed five long chapters, from "My Story Begins" up through "The High School Years." I included a few xeroxed photos at the end. Since I had every intention of continuing my memoir, I titled it Chapters: (The Continuing Saga.) This is the original copy I turned in to Martha Nelson's Life Story Class. It is a poignant (60 page double space) life review up to the tender age of 17! (The college years would follow.)

"I, Katya Nina Sabaroff Taylor, was born on a Sunday with a head full of black hair that the nurses combed into a wave when they brought me to my mother for the first time. It was January 23, 1944, and war time. My father, who was 25 at the time, was about to be drafted into the army to go overseas and fight Hitler...."

I was 48, and my daughter was 4, when I signed up for a poetry class with a popular professor at FSU in Tallahassee, where Tom, Alana and I had recently settled. Delightfully referring to poetry as Vitamin P, David Kirby gave us interesting assignments (i.e. a List poem, a Symbolist poem, a "Take off on a famous poet poem" etc.) Towards the end of the course I was diagnosed with a cyst on my ovary and had to have surgery. This explains the "Lament" poem included. While my Mom flew here to help me convalesce, I used my brand new computer and put together this collection.

I was hired to teach journaling and poetry at an alternative middle school. At the semester's end, I encouraged each student to put together a booklet of their favorite writings. I followed suit with this one. As always, I used a variety of stimuli to encourage my students' (and my own creativity), including pictures from magazines, writing to music, a Cast of Characters exercise, and "13 ways of looking" a take off on a Wallace Steven's poem. My collection ends with a "Once upon a time" parable.

My writing pal, Frank Martin, who lived in South Florida, was also very fond of the Haiku form, and we decided to write "Breakfast Haiku," which meant sending (through e-mail) a haiku every morning to one another. This went on for some time. One day Frank suggested we compile these Haiku into a little book with our poems presented side by side.

Excerpts from my journals, and notes from teaching journal-keeping (later, Lifestories).

When I received a questionnaire from a woman writing a book on the benefits of journaling, I took the time to go through some of my journaling anthologies (made for each 6 week class), and assembled a variety of samples of my own class writing, as well as syllabi, brochures explaining the benefits of journaling, etc. This collection reflects both my own style of writing and my teaching methodology. Alexandra Johnson's book came out (Leaving a Trace) and included a few quotes from what I had sent her. Later I was pleased that an article appeared in Oprah Magazine using some of my words!

In my Journal/Lifestory classes, I often spend one session asking students to create a "visual" journal entry in the form of a collage (images and words collected from a variety of magazines.) I have long been drawn to collages -- and find them to be artistically as well as emotionally satisfying to create. When my parents' 60th wedding anniversary approached, I decided to put together a collection to share with them. Since that time, I have created many more such works, a few of which appear in some of my Singing Bird Press chapbooks. Below is an excerpt from another collage in this compilation.

When my daughter was enrolled in Betton Hills, a small private school in Tallahassee with an art-based curriculum, I was invited in by the headmistress to teach poetry to Alana's combined 2nd and 3rd grade class. I asked each student to go out onto the school's grounds and find a tree to sit under. Taking their time, they would "commune" with the tree, then write a poem about it, come back to the classroom, and share. Each child also drew a sketch of "their" tree. Alana's teacher and I both participated and our poems and drawings are also included.

Somehow we all decided to come together at a farm in upstate New York in Fall of 2000 and celebrate the existence of LNS (1968-81). I realized this was an opportunity to create a reunion "packet" -- just as for years we had typed and collated and sent out news packets to our subscribing papers. I asked all attendees and those who wished they could be there, but couldn't travel, to write two pages of camera-ready copy, about how they came to work for us, their experience at LNS, and what they've been doing since. I was thrilled that we had 33 entries, and I gathered them together into this document, summing up, with our stories, an era of radical journalism that was unique in American history.

I have been offering Journaling and LifeStories classes to people from all walks of life since 1982, more than three decades. Every time I teach a class (usually in Spring and Fall), I put together a little publication (LifeStories Review) for the students to have a memento of our special time together. Each person chooses two or three pages of their favorite writing from class, I put them all together with a table of contents and a cover, and we either bind in class (with a 3 hole punch and embroidery thread) or students can opt to have their copy spiral bound. These compilations represent a wide range of stories and poems from my students -- a poignant record of a diverse humanity, all sharing their unique journeys with pen and paper.

Includes: Spring, 2006, private class; Fall, 2011, Assisted Living Center, through Osher Lifelong Learning Institute; Fall, 2012, Assisted Living Center, and including Haiku poems.

The story of how I became interested in volunteering to teach creative writing in the prisons goes back to my Kingston and McGary chapbook (see Singing Bird Press editions earlier in this catalog). Suffice it to say I have been offering writing to inmates for more than two decades, and find it to be deeply fulfilling. I always write with my students, and employ the same methodology (using seed phrases to evoke material) no matter whether I am teaching prisoners, seniors, college students, self-help groups, or any other category of humanity. However, because prison is a place where masks and protective armor seem necessary for survival, inmates are especially grateful to be free, in my class, to reflect, express, and share, without judgment, and to be affirmed that their voice, their life, has value, as we connect with each other at the heart level.

Includes: Out of Sight and Mind, FCI, Tallahassee, male inmates Spring 1995; Out of Sight and Mind, FCI, Tallahassee, male inmates Spring 1996; Beauty Behind Walls, Jefferson Correctional, women, Fall 1998; Imaginations Uncovered, FCI, Tallahassee, women, Fall 2010; Imaginations Uncovered, FCI, Tallahassee, women Spring 2011; Imaginations Uncovered FCI, Tallahassee, women Fall 2011; Imaginations Uncovered, FCI, Tallahassee, women Spring 2012; Imaginations Uncovered, FCI, Tallahassee, women Winter 2012.

Contributed articles and poems.

This book invites you behind the barbwire into the lives, stories and poems of 115 inmates. From 1991 to 2015 I entered the gates of four Florida prisons, offering creative writing to those behind bars, and created 12 anthologies which compiled their favorite writings from our sessions together. These anthologies have been excerpted in Prison Wisdom to showcase the beauty and diversity of the humanity hidden behind walls. The book also includes the correspondence and artwork of prison pen pals I have been writing to for many years.

Prison Wisdom reveals the methodology of how I evoke writing from my students, and the prompts and exercises are outlined so that anyone wishing to teach writing, in the prisons or elsewhere, has a template for doing so. As I explain on the back cover blurb: "I believe every person has a creative spark within them, and I hope to evoke 'the wisdom of the pen' in each and every one of my students. As you, the reader, experience the poignant and heartfelt writing in this unique collection, I hope you will be inspired to pick up a pen to tell your own stories."

These two-noun 700-word tales were written, long-distance, by me, in Florida, and my friend Mary, in Oregon. I had invited her to participate In the “700 Word Story Club.” We have found 700 words to be just long enough to create a viable character and plot. Each partner thinks of a noun independently, shares it, and the two words become the title. Mary, an artist, created the cover images of some of the nouns in this collection i.e. spoon, lemon, flower. Our stories, side by side, reveal to the reader how each of us has our own imaginative response to the same title. Other stories include: The Spoon and the Window, the Swan Newspaper, and the Raven Painting