Tess Taylor’s poetry is a literary collage: an assemblage of the poet’s words and the ontology of California itself. In two collections out this year, Rift Zone and Last West: Roadsongs for Dorothea Lange, the poet juxtaposes her personal longing for security against the state’s complex geologic and human history. Rift Zone draws our attention to the “fragile real estate” Californians claim, as well as invisible lines within and around us. Last West puts the poet’s work in apposition to notes and photographs taken by famed WPA photographer Lange. Taylor travels the roads Lange traveled, drawing together the artist’s time and our own: “Different people,” Taylor writes, “the same problems.”