Reviews

Blood, Hook & Eye by Dara Wier

dotorsojak's review

3.0

This is quite an interesting first book, filled with delicious writing. I bought it when it first came out more than 40 years ago. I was 22 then and not ready for it. I confess I probably only read 3 or 4 of the poems, maybe also the one dedicated to Richard Dillard called "Life at the Foot of the Dam." Now, however, I am reading a lot of poetry and pulling books off my shelf that have long deserved a second look. BLOOD HOOK & EYE is a terrific collection, well deserving of second, third, and fourth looks. I'm especially enamored of "Midway," "The Contortionist," "One Woman at the Drugstore," and "The Direction to the Left of Sunrise." These gems, fresh to my mind, stimulate and provoke and make me think, "what the hell?" I confess I have trouble following some of the pieces, but they are all little songs that stick in the mind. I love the declarative sentences, the end-stopped lines, and the short, clipped vowels. Oh, I should also state that there are some frankly sexual poems, some of which are rather disturbing. These are the ones I most like: "My Uncle Reads Lips," "If For a Night My Tongue Would Sleep,""You Were in Love," "One Woman and the Lady Medical Assistant."