Tenderness of the Wolves

Rating:
Summary: One great story, one great poem, then a drop-off
Review: Dennis Cooper, before turning to novels, wrote several books of poetry and short-short stories. The good news about The Tenderness of the Wolves is its super final story, a longer piece called "A Herd", where Cooper begins to explore dark areas, including mutilation, rape, and sadism, which he later returns to in his novels. "A Herd" is haunting and brutal, verging on shocking on a first read. His exploration of these difficult topics is strong, yet subtle. Also included in this book is "Being Aware," among the best of all Cooper's poetry. Unfortunately, beyond that, the poems are a marked dropoff, distinctly less interesting than in Cooper's earlier book, Idols. He covers the territory of bored, sexually peaked teenagers better than anyone, but these poems don't show more than flashes of true insight. In addition, if anyone wants to read a truly overblown analyzation of Cooper's work, check out the introduction to this book, written by! noted novelist and essayist Edmund White.