Collaborationlisten

Typecast in parts we know by heart,
we share a single goal;
what one requires his counterpart supplies.
Minds attuned, each actor gives
his best supporting role.
The sucker plays the fool; the liar lies.

A satisfactory partnership--
we've learned to improvise
the easy lie, the hasty offered cue.
The fool solicits alibis.
Expediency breeds
deception-- more fool me; more liar you.

The curtain rises; house lights dim;
the violins begin.
We take positions by unspoken rule.
A dialog between two stars
tonight will play again,
its audience: one liar and one fool.

Vermont
Artwork by Erin McGee Copyright 2006

Carol Taylor lives in the Houston area, where she works for an international company and does free lance translating and volunteer work. Her poetry has appeared recently in Iambs & Trochees, Light Quarterly, Susquehanna Quarterly, Byline Magazine, Artemis Journal, and Alsop Review Press's Anthology One. Since 2001 she has held the post of Administrator of the online poetry workshop, Eratosphere. Her first chapbook, Saving for the Future, was printed in 2003, and her new one Houston Skyline is now available.

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