Jo Taylor’s Postcards: Collected Poems and Short Stories is a glowing example of a deeply underappreciated literary form—the single-author collection of both poetry and prose. Examples of such collections often feel as though one or both of the following objectives are at work: (1) to allow the author a fuller spectrum of intermingling lyrical and narrative gestures in the exploration of their subject matter and/or (2) to flaunt their skill across genres. Taylor’s writerly persona—accessible, honest, heartfelt, and unpretentious—suggests that she is not trying to show off in this collection. But the author assuredly puts a full range of talents on display in this deeply moving and complex book.

Taylor’s background in nursing permeates through the entire collection, not only as the subject of a particular poem or story, but also in the obvious empathy and compassion she exhibits for the human characters in her writing. There is a constant tenderness and care for the people populating the work. And this pervasive warmth tempts the reader to believe in a current of goodness running through human beings.

As a poet, Taylor has a sharp control of the lines. Each is a powerful increment in her narrative style, almost always breaking with enviable intention as the captured moment is rendered with emotional depth and sophisticated play. Taylor is particularly adept at inviting multiple resonances and surprise into a line through her enjambment. As these are also the poems of a master storyteller, the reader is consistently treated to a dynamic movement of the speaker-narrator’s perspective, scene and meditation unfold their layers of possibility together.

As a short story writer, Taylor operates with a brilliant and affecting attention to form and authenticity. In “Path Before Giants,” for example, a couple’s walk amongst sequoias is punctuated by the narrator-protagonist’s interjections about the temporality of their marriage. In “You May Die Tonight,” Taylor’s nursing background lends palpable verisimilitude to the intimate, emotional journey of a patient’s final moments. In all of Taylor’s prose, an unparalleled attention to organization and pacing creates a deeply-embodied experience of drama for the reader. The audience is there through Taylor’s calculated control of movement and timing.

In short, Jo Taylor’s Postcards: Collected Poems and Short Stories is a must-read collection. This is an author at the top of her craft, an author who imbues each piece of writing with precise use of technique and powerfully emotional narratives. As an example of the poetry-and-fiction collection, this book might very well stand and an exemplary text that would behoove students of both genres to read.