Photography © Chad Parenteau

 

In all my years as a poet, I’ve done many of these for friends, colleagues and mentors but I never thought I would have to write one for Jeff Taylor.

We met at TT the Bears on a Monday night for Stone Soup poetry.

Our affinity for edgy poetry and marijuana is what drew us together and soon he was a member of The Collective. Art, Rat, Cat and Caine with an ever growing cast of artists we stormed the open mic stages like guerilla poets and outlaws.

We were the resistance, word warriors, and champions of free speech. Our cry to “Free the word!!” sung from stages throughout coffee shops, rebel cafés, and stages across the East Coast and surrounding areas. We once streaked central park nearby Strawberry Fields and the Dakota after a poetry reading. We showed up at the Lizard Lounge in Ski Masks and hijacked the open mic. We once crucified Lee Litif on stage at TT the Bears the day after Easter.

And just like that life moves in and we all grew apart, working on our lives, starting new ones. Jeff married Ari who he met during our Collective years.

We reconnected through Facebook and kept in touch. Jeff never lost that love for poetry. I moved on to other interests, but that was what Jeff wanted more than anything, to be a respected poet. To be acknowledged for his work.

Jeff was an incredible person, an amazing friend, a fantastic father and husband but he was a poet of the gods. Not just a word slinger but a weaver, he was the word and his work will live on for generations to admire.

My heart goes out to his beautiful Ari and three amazing kids Emily, Charlott, and Phoebe, as well as his friends and family and the entire poetry world. As friends and family, we lost someone very close to us, but the world lost his voice and the potential of his voice to stand up against the looming evils that stand before us in the world that’s yet to come. Rest in power my friend, hope to see you on the other side.

 

Ryan “Rat” Travis is a veteran of the open mic scene, storming stages in the 90s and beyond. He’s published internationally and was a member of several prominant poetry performance groups including The Collective, The Barnum and Buddah Poetry Circus, and Jack Power’s Word Warriors. Rat stepped away from the scene to pursue his other passions like acting and performing with his band Fog Wizard. He’s currently an English teacher and administrator in a maximum security detention facility for boys and is co-owner of Shady Bastards Entertainment, an interactive theater group that specializes in murder mysteries. He lives on the North shore with his loving wife Holly and their two rambunctious cats Wally and Kuruk.

Chad Parenteau is Associate Editor of Oddball Magazine. The above photo was taken from a performance by The Garage Poets Jeff Taylor, Ethan Mackler and Anna Geoffrey on July 13, 2022 at Stone Soup Poetry in Boston, Massachusetts. Jeff Taylor passed away this past weekend.