The Photographer of Wolves

Don Precosky teaches English at the College of New Caledonia and is the
co-editor of Four Realities: Poets of Northern B.C.

Short lines, clear images, and a dearth of descriptive details—these
are the chief characteristics of this strong collection of poems. The
predominant subject of the book is experiences that combine intimacy and
alienation. The collection is divided into three parts; each depicts an
encounter with a different kind of otherness, and all involve a loss of
self.

Part 1, Story of Snow, deals with a brother who loses himself to
alcoholism. Part 2, which gives the book its title, centres on the loss
of self to animal instinct and reminds one of ancient myths of
metamorphosis. Part 3, A Stranding, is about a woman with leukemia who
loses herself to modern institutionalized medicine and then to death.

The Photographer of Wolves is a well-crafted and emotionally powerful
book.