This is an exceptional volume of poems that reach deep into the heart of motherhood, unearthing the unexpected emotions of childbirth. Far from facile, Fennelly fearlessly exposes herself with visual and visceral language that defines the almost inexpressible joy, tender sensations and desperate fear of loss that crowd the emotions:

"I whispered into her see-through ear
I'd keep her safe forever-
I, her first lover."

The title, Tender Hooks, is born of a childish misunderstanding of "tenterhooks". This slim but powerful volume fills me with unexpected tenderness and newly awakened feelings. Fennelly mines the language until it yields the desired effect, plunging into private thoughts and fears, ferociously passionate, often erotic.

"What a large target we make.
The great dramas all begin like this:
a surfeit of happiness, a glass-smooth pond
just begging for a stone."

"for poets who grow up to be comp teachers
because our spelling is wrecked forever
so are our idioms and old wise tales...
a student writes of the novel,
that won ‘the Bullet Surprise'
it drives her 'out of my mine'."