Last West: Roadsongs for Dorothea Lange (by Tess Taylor)

Last year, I read the wonderful Rift Zone, a book of poems by Tess Taylor that met the "an author local to you" requirement. This year, Ian alerted me that Tess was doing a reading at our local library, and I'd enjoyed her book so much I bought another one, Last West, and then we went to see her read it.  So this qualified as "Read a book by an author with an upcoming event (virtual or in person) and then attend the event."

Last West is a book of poems written to accompany a Dorothea Lange exhibit at the Met.  Tess Taylor talked about how she read Lange's notebooks when she was documenting the lives of migrants in the American West, and did a road trip herself, following the same path. The poems are a collage of Tess's words and Dorothea's.

I loved the reading but as a standalone, the book of poetry is mixed (as books of poetry so often are). Some parts of it worked better for me than others - the choppiness of the pastiche/found poetry approach didn't always give me enough to grab onto - and on the whole I'd recommend Rift Zone more. Still, I'm excited that I have a signed copy now and definitely will be excited to read whatever she releases next.