Hierarchy of Dwindling Sheep

Hierarchy of Dwindling Sheep is a book of poetry by Louis T. Bruno, his ninth work and first poetry collection. In it, the author covers everything from fairy tales to algorithms. He has a strong voice that carries through the entire collection, with active language, the darkness of the narrator’s experience of our times coming through loud and clear. And, let’s just say, by two poems in, you won’t ever think about Snow White quite the same way again.

In tone, the material is closer to the poet Ai than to anything typically “poetic.” It is raw, often uncensored stuff, with sharp, vivid imagery, stark contrasts, and no holds barred. There is a nice flow from poem to poem, though it doesn’t seem to have an overall “story” to tell, in the sense of rising and falling action before reaching a climax and resolution, but is more a narrator’s manifesto of anger, disgust, and disillusionment. The author has a strong style and perspective that comes through on every line. Brevity is a strong suit, with each poem lasting as long as it needs to and ending before it has worn out its welcome. This is a collection that is not meant to be flowery or what is typically thought of as poetry. From the first poem, readers know they are in for a ride. “When the world wants to buy a missile, they look online.”

A fair warning, this material could be offensive to some readers, while others who don’t mind four-letter words in their poetry might find that this resonates with their reading life. It’s more Gothic and nihilistic in tone than a lot of poetry, or maybe just more honest about being Gothic and nihilistic. Themes include death, sex, military and the various armed conflicts worldwide, politics, guns, the opposition of good and evil.