{image1}Although it's been many years since musician/poet Harvey Taylor was a longshoreman, he still harbors the wisdom and appearance of a man who has spent countless hours working and reflecting on the waterfront. With tan skin and sparkling blue eyes, Taylor is as quick to listen as he is to share, and although his voice is calm and soothing like the inside of a seashell, his ideas are thoughtful and intense like a hard rain.
"I often compare my creativity to a water faucet. It's easier just to leave the tap on than to keep turning it on and off," says Taylor, referring to his decision many years ago to make his creative work his life work.
And work he does.
With 30 books of poetry (including his latest effort, "Windows and Doors") and a slew of CDs, it's hard to imagine when Taylor finds time to facilitate writing and music workshops, host a radio program on WMSE, participate in countless benefits, dance in performances, design graphics, publish regularly, present interactive programs at the Betty Brinn Children's Museum, host a monthly music and performance series called "Muse Power," gig with the multicultural "Rainbow Poets" and swim every other day.
Despite his wide field of interests and endeavors, he is currently most smitten with music. "I'm living on planet music these days," says Taylor, who plays trumpet, guitar, percussion and sings. "Music is a huge relief for me; to be entranced by a whole 'nother kind of language. I could spend the next million years on a desert island composing."
For most of 2002, Taylor composed a record, "The Girls," with Bryant Hudson, a musician who was severely injured in an accident a few years ago. Previously, Taylor recorded with a poetry performance ensemble called the Sparks and other Wisconsin poets and musicians in "PoetSongs: A Wisconsin Year in Poetry and Song."
He also regularly records in his Riverwest home studio, called Tree House Studio, and is currently playing trumpet in a trio with local musicians Mike Link and Michael Sullivan.
At the very end of 2003, he released "Taking The Whole World Along," featuring Scott Finch, Holly Haebig, Jeff Hinich, Tobias Kaemmerer, John Kruth, Mike Link, Julio Pabon, Tom Schwark, Michael Sullivan and Una Van DuVal.
The album is perfect for bar time, evening romance and conversation by way of the moon. It's a nice mix of melancholy trumpet -- perhaps his strongest suit -- and rhythmic, heartfelt verse.
Whether in the form of music or poetry, Taylor's writing is accessible and honest -- often joyful -- like sophisticated art pieces created with colorful crayons. He shares his experiences in a way that doesn't say "look at me" rather "psst ... we're all in this together." He is a connector; he is human glue.
Much of Taylor's work focuses on his love for his now-deceased father, whom he deeply loved and respected. "I meet dad often now/since his death/in dreams," he writes in the poem, "Walking, In the Same Direction." He also connects with his father through the trumpet, as both father and son shared a love for the instrument.
"I knew it was going to take over my life and I was leery of being shanghaied by a trumpet. But now, I'm a willing servant," he says, smiling.
The natural world is another major inspiration, specifically the water. Taylor says the cool blue is imperative to his physical, emotional and spiritual health, and he spends as much time as he can swimming, canoeing and sailing.
His love for the environment originally germinated when he was a kid living in Norfolk, Va. only a half block from "the woods." His family also lived on the coast of Rhode Island, on the edge of a canyon in California and spent a lot of time at his grandparents' farm in North Carolina.
"I just got it from the get go that we're all a part of it," he says in his signature vernacular, a combination of beatnik jive and intellectual commentary. (Taylor holds a history degree from the University of Madison and is a voracious reader.)
Even though he has lived in the city for multiple decades, Taylor has planted a garden in the same spot -- the back yard of his Booth Street duplex -- for 25 years. He travels often, including an annual pilgrimage to Canada, but is happily anchored in the Riverwest community.
"It's like a marriage. I took my vows with Milwaukee and I committed to this community," says Taylor, taking a satisfying sip from a tall glass of water.
Harvey Taylor will perform at Caribou Coffee, 11104 N. Port Washington Rd. (at Mequon Road), on Jan. 20 at 7 p.m.
Harvey Taylor's Web site is harveytaylor.net.
Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.
Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.
