The longtime Meramec English Professor discusses his personal and professional interests
BY: HENRY KIEFFER
Guest Contributor
On the windowsill of office 108, located in Communications North at the Meramec St. Louis Community College Campus, sits a collection of figures from Voltron and Guardians of the Galaxy. The items on this windowsill belong to Dr. David Taylor. Taylor is an English professor at St. Louis Community College, a poet, and a self-described “dork.”
“You had robots, and they were vehicles, and they had weapons, so I fell in love with them, like, right away,” Taylor said in his office while recalling his favorite toys and shows from his childhood, nearly leaning off his chair.
Anything from Transformers to GoBots. The ‘80s childhood interest, which followed him into adulthood, had developed into a hobby of collecting. “Now I actually have grown-up money that I can spend on things and not feel guilty,” he said.
Taylor collects more toys from his days of growing up, while dipping into newer things, as long as they’re relevant to him. This includes toys from a Voltron reboot series or even happy meal toys. Taylor’s use of grown up money has led him to meet people with similar hobbies as himself as well.
“I’ve commissioned artists to do commissions of Optimus Prime and Voltron together,” said Taylor. Through his hobbies, Taylor said he has met artists and friends of artists all around the world. “Anywhere from New York, to Taiwan, to Canada,” he said.
While most of Taylor’s community is online, he has also found community within St. Louis. He said it all started in the pandemic, when he came across a neighbor struggling with her mailbox. It turns out she was an artist who had also been friends with his group. “I started buying some of her stuff, which led me to other people, and it sort of spiraled from there.”
Taylor has also embraced his passion for poetry. “I’m a poet; that’s my background,” he said as he sat back in his office chair, struggling to recall his own academic achievements. He received his masters in English, with an emphasis in composition, and a concentration in poetry and went on to earn his doctorate degree from St. Louis University.
Taylor teaches Poetry Writing at STLCC-Meramec and writes and publishes his own poems. Despite publishing many works, he said he still finds himself nervous when it comes time to submit to a publisher.
As a seasoned member of the industry, Taylor is friends with many editors, some of which he submits to. “If I send them my work, I want to make sure that it’s really the best work possible,” Taylor explained intently. He elaborated that he doesn’t want them to feel guilty for rejecting him or accepting his work out of obligation. He then expanded upon his relationship with the culture of poetry as the publisher of Black Coffee Review.
“I used to be more so in the St. Louis scene,” said Taylor. “Now, because my publication is online, I’m getting to know people from different countries, different states, and such,” he said.
While he’s published for himself, published for others, given speeches, and more, Taylor swiftly established that he still wouldn’t consider himself an accomplished person. “I mean, I think I’ve done some good stuff; some good work,” he said. Taylor compares himself to his friends in the community, who have published anthologies, selected works and received awards. Though Taylor does acknowledge that unlike him, poetry is their main job, there is still more that he wants to do. Although he doesn’t know exactly what he wants to do next, he said he knows he wants to get more collections published.
Taylor also said his passions allow him to differentiate between assuming the title of a dork vs. nerd. “Although I think nerds are cooler, I consider myself a dork,” Taylor said.
While there was hesitance in his voice, he still chose to hear himself out. He said he sees a difference between being a nerd and a dork. “A nerd would be able to compare the show to the comic,” Taylor said. “I’m a dork, so I would read an article about someone doing an analysis between the two.”
