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Wolf Doctors
In Wolf Doctors, Sara Woods' first full-length collection of poetry, we find cities that have transformed into girls, but who perhaps would like to transform back once again into cities. We find lovers in a forehead-shaped grove, next to a forehead-shaped lake, touching their foreheads together, endlessly. We find rampaging herds of bulls that desperately love that which they trample to death.
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First published January 1, 2014
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About the author
Never Angeline Nørth
40 books69 followersNever Angeline Nørth is a mixed-media, cross-genre author and artist living in Olympia, WA. She formerly wrote books under the names Moss Angel and Sara June Woods.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
March 20, 2014
"Russ Woods knows what it means to witness your own wilderness."
Carrie Lorig, author of NODS
RUSS IS ONE OF MY SOULMATES. I HAVE 135. RUSS IS ONE OF 12 WITH BEARDS. BUT HIS IS THE ONLY BEARD I HAVE SEEN A TURNPIKE COME OUT OF. IT WAS A TURNPIKE BLOSSOMING BIRDS WITH WOLF NECKS. IT WAS TURNPIKE BLOSSOMING MASKS THAT TURNED INTO SONGS AND THE FEELING I ALWAYS HAVE READING WITH RUSS. POWER IS TENDER. THIS POETRY IS TENDER AND EXTRAORDINARY. I LOVE THE SEA.
Carrie Lorig, author of NODS
RUSS IS ONE OF MY SOULMATES. I HAVE 135. RUSS IS ONE OF 12 WITH BEARDS. BUT HIS IS THE ONLY BEARD I HAVE SEEN A TURNPIKE COME OUT OF. IT WAS A TURNPIKE BLOSSOMING BIRDS WITH WOLF NECKS. IT WAS TURNPIKE BLOSSOMING MASKS THAT TURNED INTO SONGS AND THE FEELING I ALWAYS HAVE READING WITH RUSS. POWER IS TENDER. THIS POETRY IS TENDER AND EXTRAORDINARY. I LOVE THE SEA.
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March 24, 2014Russ is such a kind light hearted fun guy so I expected his first book (with a spine) to be a lot of fun, a trip, something kind of crazy and wacky that would make me laugh and feel great. Wolf Doctors made me feel that way, in fact there were several times that I laughed out loud. But there was this whole other layer there that I didn't expect once I started reading his work in bulk as opposed to a few poems here and there online. There is a darkness to a lot of it, a darkness mixed with this fun lighthearted humor. Those two elements mixing together make for a really fun tension! Things that should be opposites, aren't! Fun childlike play in written form that also addresses real pain and darkness. This passage in a love poem is a good example…
"you are a beautiful dark-haired
child & i am a plague
of cholera & i am skipping
you & taking everyone else
so we can be alone together."
my favorite poems in this book reminded me of a quote from Stranger in a Strange Land where the alien says "I've found out why people laugh. They laugh because it hurts so much…because it's the only thing that'll make it stop hurting."
I'm simplifying things of course! I came up with this idea half way through reading the book and kind of kept going in with it in my head. there are lots of ways to love this book! that's part of what makes it so exciting! a lot of it is short narrative poems, but there are also some very abstract poems where rhythm plays into the foreground and the readers imagination gets a lot of free rein. It's hard to tell what the next couple of Russ's books will be like as this is a very unpredictable book! I'm very excited about the future of Russ's writing and I'm not really sure what it will be like!
"you are a beautiful dark-haired
child & i am a plague
of cholera & i am skipping
you & taking everyone else
so we can be alone together."
my favorite poems in this book reminded me of a quote from Stranger in a Strange Land where the alien says "I've found out why people laugh. They laugh because it hurts so much…because it's the only thing that'll make it stop hurting."
I'm simplifying things of course! I came up with this idea half way through reading the book and kind of kept going in with it in my head. there are lots of ways to love this book! that's part of what makes it so exciting! a lot of it is short narrative poems, but there are also some very abstract poems where rhythm plays into the foreground and the readers imagination gets a lot of free rein. It's hard to tell what the next couple of Russ's books will be like as this is a very unpredictable book! I'm very excited about the future of Russ's writing and I'm not really sure what it will be like!
December 19, 2020
I first came to know Sara Woods through her eponymous, sophomore book Sara, or The Existence of Fire. This, her debut collection, also has a lot of dogs.
Whilst the first book was all about getting to know Sara, through short verse, vignettes, and hilarious interviews this book feels a lot more like an anthology of ideas and is also about 75% longer than its successor.
Wolf Doctors is an impressive, colorful, and wacky collection. The book is roughly separated into different sections by one-two sentence 'writing prompts', such as:
The writing prompts don't give any indication of the content that follows but do seem to indicate some sort of grouping. For example, after Writing prompt #3 all poems are about Christopher, except one incredible vignette-style short about a girl who is a city. But then, maybe there is no real grouping because after Writing Prompt #6:
Woods really excels at these flash-fiction tidbits brimming with strange and beautiful images, a few that stuck out to me:
- After several lines of what appear to be a love poem, espousing the beauty of the listener and their charm:
- A distracted partner looks out the window as their partner discusses visiting a sickened relative. The bad listener watches workers extract and then replace snakes in a sewer.
-Christopher lives above a taqueria but likes to pretend he is actually in a mountain stream. As he watches patrons of the mexican he imagines he is a bear. Eating them up.
I'm not doing these justice because they are both so short and so excellent that I'd have to write them in full for you to experience their magic.
Woods plays with form more in this collection than in 'Sara + fire' but I think she still excels at flash fiction, which makes up the majority of the book.
I'd highly recommend both of these books by Woods. I'm now stuck trying to track down all of her earlier work, most of which appeared in the form of chapbooks which are largely out of print. Snap this + 'Sara' up whilst they are still in print!
Whilst the first book was all about getting to know Sara, through short verse, vignettes, and hilarious interviews this book feels a lot more like an anthology of ideas and is also about 75% longer than its successor.
Wolf Doctors is an impressive, colorful, and wacky collection. The book is roughly separated into different sections by one-two sentence 'writing prompts', such as:
A magic elevator that turns all occupants into sheer granite cliffs.
The writing prompts don't give any indication of the content that follows but do seem to indicate some sort of grouping. For example, after Writing prompt #3 all poems are about Christopher, except one incredible vignette-style short about a girl who is a city. But then, maybe there is no real grouping because after Writing Prompt #6:
Write a poem on paper made from someone else's hair. Become a nobleman. Get real good at hopscotch.there are two poems about dogs, two related to bulls, one about spiders, but also one about a birthday outfit so really I don't know.
Woods really excels at these flash-fiction tidbits brimming with strange and beautiful images, a few that stuck out to me:
- After several lines of what appear to be a love poem, espousing the beauty of the listener and their charm:
We are sorry we are a large herd of angry bulls, charging toward you, about to kill you.
- A distracted partner looks out the window as their partner discusses visiting a sickened relative. The bad listener watches workers extract and then replace snakes in a sewer.
-Christopher lives above a taqueria but likes to pretend he is actually in a mountain stream. As he watches patrons of the mexican he imagines he is a bear. Eating them up.
I'm not doing these justice because they are both so short and so excellent that I'd have to write them in full for you to experience their magic.
Woods plays with form more in this collection than in 'Sara + fire' but I think she still excels at flash fiction, which makes up the majority of the book.
I'd highly recommend both of these books by Woods. I'm now stuck trying to track down all of her earlier work, most of which appeared in the form of chapbooks which are largely out of print. Snap this + 'Sara' up whilst they are still in print!
April 30, 2014
This is like when you watch old cartoons and they all seem to take place in a universe that's bleak and existential and you wish there was more poetry in them and then you read poetry and you wish it was more like a cartoon and then you read this and it's like, oh, okay, good.
February 20, 2016
My friends bought me this book as a gag gift because I like wolves and I was starting medical school. We ended up taking turns reading aloud from it all night because we loved it so much. This is a great book.
December 17, 2015
This is a book that defies analysis, which is perhaps one reason I loved it so much. These poems are funny and cool and beautiful, often employing a James Tate-esque narrative surrealism/free association. There are men with dog-arms, men who are houses who also star in plays, George Clooney's secret twin, and you, always you, the center around which the speaker's love spins and spins. Do you even realize what your hair does to her?
Just go read these poems already.
Just go read these poems already.
April 25, 2014
Wolf Doctors is good times. Read it and you will see I am right.
June 18, 2019
An unexpected delight. I didn't know what to expect when I requested this through Interlibrary Loan. A delightful collection of surreal and sorrowful prose poems coated in magic and elements of Chicago (where I reside). Some serious gems inside this collection. Here are two favorites: https://twitter.com/neonpajamas/statu...
August 24, 2014
Russ Woods, now known as Sara June Woods, does a lot of strange and exciting things in Wolf Doctors. The poems reminded me of Russell Edson at times and the prose had a dreamy feel like MTV-era Barry Yourgrau. But both had its own stamp of "Woods-ian" melancholy. I'm excited to see what she does next. Also--cool collage cover (Sara also does great collage art).
http://moonbears.biz/
http://moonbears.biz/
February 1, 2016
Sara is probably my favorite poet. I quote parts of this book out loud sometimes, and always get a kick out of reading it to friends. Hilarious and amazing. Her new works are even more amazing, so be sure to check out her other chapbooks and releases.
June 17, 2014
I don't read a lot of poetry, but I was pulled in by Russ Wood's bizarre humor. Really excellent train read that surprised me with its odd approach and moments of poignancy.
August 27, 2014
Sara Woods is as good as the opposite of dead and so are these poems.
December 3, 2014
"Within the first two months of its operation, the facility went through a really bad breakup & spent most of its time in its dorm room writing a concept album about cats."
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May 28, 2019D.F.T.M.T.S
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews