Ruth Taylor (poet)

Ruth Taylor (10 January 1961 – 18 February 2006) was a Canadian poet, editor and college teacher. Born in Lachine, Quebec and raised in Pincourt, Quebec, she attended John Abbott College, McGill University, and Concordia University.

Taylor was the author of three collections of poetry: The Drawing Board (1988); Dragon Papers (1994), a finalist for the A. M. Klein Prize for Poetry; and Comet Wine (2007), published posthumously.

Taylor taught English literature at John Abbott College from 1986 to 2006.

An active member in Montreal's literary scene since 1979. She gained notoriety as a member of the informal Lakeshore Poets:

... who came out of John Abbott College classes in the early 1980s, including Neil Henden, Ben Soo, Stephen Brockwell and Greg Lamontagne, who ended up being part of the Montreal scene as a kind of second-generation offshoot of the 1970s The Vehicule Poets^[1]

She died in February 2006, of alcohol poisoning, shortly after completing Comet Wine.^[2] Her marriage to Nicolas Keyserlingk ended in divorce. She is survived by her son, Emmett, her mother, and a brother.^[3]

Selected works

• The Drawing Board — 1988
• The Dragon Papers — 1994
• Muse On!: The Muses Company Anthology 1980-1995 — 1995 (editor)
• Comet Wine — 2007