Book Review: Taxonomic Vignettes

Reviewed by Kristine Eckart

An apt depiction of the vicissitudes of life

Separated into four parts, Taxonomic Vignettes dissects life and loss with genuineness. 

Section I, “The Irony of Promise,” uses the rise and fall of the speaker’s community, from greatness to despair, revealing the fascination we all have with the flight and the fall, the brilliance and heartbreak of the Icarus in all of us. 

Section II, “Stubbornness of Character,” is suitably named as it describes the rigidity of the personalities of its characters. Section III, “Unassuming Mastery,” highlights the beauty in the small things. Section IV, “The Best Way Is Always Through,” shows the gritty determination one must assume on the unpredictable journeys of friendship and life and how we must soldier on. Some poems contain an intimate look at the poet’s time working in medicine, while others depict college experiences and childhood friends. 

“Because people metamorphose
“And lives can not only drift but can accelerate apart”

This poetry collection’s mastery is most evident in the portraits it paints of all the people who come and go in our lives. Poems like “Be True” expertly encapsulate how everyone is changed by time or illness, how easy it is to fall out of touch with people, and the choices we make when faced with loneliness and how our career paths can change our trajectory in life.  

Peppered with pop culture and literature references, every stanza is smart and vulnerable simultaneously. Not only is it enjoyable to pick out all the references you’re familiar with, but the reference always adds a layer of deeper understanding to the surrounding stanzas. One poem, “College Friends,” even replicates the chorus that comments on the plot as in a Greek play, revealing the poet’s knowledge in more than just the medical field. 

“Play at grandiose, at manic: Paul Bunyan, John Henry, Theseus 

“Embrace life like a centrifuge
“And extract its critical elements”

The handful of poems that focus solely on nature, like “A Daurian Rhododendron Comes Out,” “An Insect Aside,” and “Humming Bard,” are good poems, detailing the blooming of flowers and the activities of birds, but they feel a bit separate from the rest of the collection. There’s such heartbreaking brilliance, vulnerability, and relatability in the other poems that it makes the nature poems stand out as dissimilar. These retrospectives are most powerful when paired with the human narratives, as is done in “Early Tulips.”

Overall, Taxonomic Vignettes is a powerful, well-crafted, and intelligent collection reflecting the realities of life and relationships. 

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