We at the BCLF are proud to mark the release of “Getting Through: New and Selected Poems” by Mervyn Taylor, an extraordinary collection which gathers decades of lyrical mastery into one definitive volume, with this special episode of Cocoa Pod.
Described as “a treasure trove… capturing the beauty and nuances of ordinary and extraordinary lives,” this poetry collection is a profound offering of Caribbean life, exploring themes of love, death, migration, aging, and grief with Taylor’s signature lyricism and care. A collection “worth relishing, celebrating, and revisiting.”
Mervyn Taylor, a Trinidad-born poet, is the author of nine collections of poetry, including Country of Warm Snow (2020), a Poetry Book Society Recommendation, The Last Train (2023), and the chapbook, News of the Living, concerning the Covid pandemic. Getting Through: New & Selected Poems (2024), from Beltway Editions, was shortlisted for the Bocas Prize. A new collection, Unpainted Houses, is forthcoming from Broadstone Books.
Taylor has taught at Bronx Community College, The New School University, and in the NYC public school system. He lives in Brooklyn, NY, and Belmont, Trinidad.

This episode of BCLF Cocoa Pod was made possible with the support of funds from the Brooklyn Arts Council Local Arts Support Grant