Body Works
Body Works by Dennis Cooley, published by University of Calgary Press in 2023, is a collection of poetry that explores the complexities of the human body. In this 160-page edition, Cooley delves into themes of death, grief, and loss, presenting the body not as a site of conflict or weakness, but as a vessel of rich experience. The poems reflect on the body’s ephemeral nature and its relationship with the intellect, offering a nuanced perspective on mortality and the human condition.
Readers will find a celebration of the body in its various states—yearning, laughing, and suffering. Cooley’s work challenges conventional views, rejecting simplistic notions of transcendence in favor of a deeper examination of time, illness, and the promises the body holds. The collection invites contemplation on the interplay between physicality and existence, making it a thought-provoking read for those interested in the intersections of poetry, philosophy, and political themes.
Official synopsis Publisher
The body may be feared. It may be a site of philosophic and theological weakness, a place of fear and contamination. The body may be weak. It is ephemeral and impure compared to what is supposed in an abstracted world of pure intellect. The body may be an obsession, a material concern taken up to the detriment of all else. The body may be a challenge to overcome, an enemy to silence.
In this book, dennis cooley sympathizes with the body. These poems celebrate the yearning, laughing, hurting, tender body. Here, the body is neither a site of conflict nor a place of spiritual weakness, but instead a vessel of experience that works in harmony with the intellect. Bodies burble, rejoice, yearn, and suffer. Bodies grow old, they are injured, they hold strength and grow weak in unexpected ways.
Rejecting the simplicity of transcendence for a nuanced examination of mortality, time, illness, of the things the body promises and the promises the body keeps, cooley is unafraid to challenge the eternal and the certain. These poems are humorous, intelligent, and poignant. body works is essential reading for anyone who lives inside a body that lives within the world.
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