Astoria author Cliff Taylor holds a copy of “The Native Who Never Left,” a poetry collection published in May.

It was during National Native American Heritage Month that Ponca author Cliff Taylor started writing poetry on his phone in the break room at his workplace.

Taylor began sharing those creations on social media, eventually compiling 106 poems into a published work. Artist Jacques LeBreton, a friend of Taylor’s, provided its cover artwork.

Sunday reading

At 4 p.m. Sunday, join Taylor for a reading from his new book at Gathered Bakeshop and Market, 512 12th St., Astoria.

Local teacher and poet Lauren Mallett will open the event reading with a reading from her manuscript in progress, titled “The Sea Hands Over Its Ropes,” a collection of poetry about living on the Oregon Coast.

The book of poems, “The Native Who Never Left,” was released on May 24, and serves as a sequel to Taylor’s first book, “The Memory of Souls.”

Taylor’s new work is much like his previous one — full of autobiographical stories, some fiction and with a hint of magical realism. He describes it as a coherent expression and portrait of his life at this moment in time living in Astoria.

As a member of the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska, Taylor’s ancestral homelands are far away from the Oregon Coast, geographically centered where the Niobrara River empties into the Missouri River.

It’s an area where many of his family members and ancestors are buried, and that connection reaches to Astoria where Taylor lives and works. “My reality as a Ponca inhabits every line of every poem and proudly so,” he said.

Taylor left his hometown of Columbus, Nebraska, at the age of 18, living in Lincoln, Nebraska, New Orleans and Seattle before settling in Astoria four years ago. He describes Astoria as a place where his life has “blossomed in a sweet, fulfilling way.”

In fact, Taylor made history with his second book. “What I’m most proud of is that it’s the first book of poetry ever published by anyone in my tribe. We Poncas are natural poets. It shouldn’t have taken us this long to get our first book of poetry out into the world,” Taylor said.

Taylor connected his book back to his homeland when, at the beginning of this summer, he traveled to Lincoln, Nebraska, to see a statue the city erected of his ancestor Chief Standing Bear. He placed his new book at the foot of the statue. “Leaving my book for a stranger to find … was a message for the strangers in the world, saying ‘take a look at what we Poncas, the original peoples of this land, are doing,’” Taylor said.

Along with representing his tribe, Taylor sees his role as a Ponca storyteller as his life’s purpose. “Writing is one of the big, can’t-be-stopped ways that the spirit of my people’s storytelling lives inside of me,” he said. “Storytelling will be utterly relevant for as long as people are breathing, regardless of the culture and times.”

Taylor has enjoyed taking in the feedback from readers in person and through social media. “It was so relieved and immensely happy to hear just how much people of all kinds, Native and non-Native, were feeling the soul-life and truth of my poems,” he said.

Taylor plans to expand his collection of Ponca poems for both his people and his fans. “I have several big books worth of poems that I hope to publish someday,” he said.

Signed copies of Taylor’s books can be found online or in Astoria at Godfather’s Books and Espresso, Rain Town Vintage Collective, Gathered Bakeshop and Market and in Cannon Beach at Jupiter’s Books.

‘The Native Who Never Left’

A book of poetry by Cliff Taylor

Self-published — 150 pp — $14.99