Cyrus Cassells - Beautiful Signor

Hear me when I say
our love’s not meant to be
an opiate;
helpmate,
you are the reachable mirror
that dares me to risk
the caravan back
to the apogee, the longed-for
arms of the Beloved—

from Cyrus Cassells - Beautiful Signor


There are two things in particular that I love about the work of Cyrus Cassells and this poem in particular. The first is the asymmetric lyrical quality of the verse. The rhythms are not straight forward, the line breaks and punctuation clip, join or contextualize thoughts and imagary with a seemingly free form liberty. Yet the words resonate with glorious lyricism. The lines undulate with a rhythmical freedom and a sensual richness of tone that perfectly accentuates the subject matter.

This lush sensuality in Cassells' poems is intertwined with a revelatory spirituality in a way that opens up both aspects to unique insight. At its best Cassells' work, especially in the book Beautiful Signor, melds the sensual and spiritual into one ecstatic sensation that is primal and familiar yet surprisingly revealing.

I got turned on to Cassells by artists/poet William Allen during a workshop he was teaching. At the time I was obsessed with the interaction between the spiritual and profane. However, unlike Cassells I was interested in smashing signifiers of both concepts together and documenting the shrapnel. By introducing me to Cassells' work I think Allen was trying to show me another way to get at the problem. I only sort of understood that at the time. It was one of those lessons I did not fully learn, or at least did not put in to practise, until years later.

In an effort to get both the blogging and poetical juices flowing, I'm going to try and share a few of my favorite poems over the next few weeks. There will be some canonical classics, some fresh unkowns and a few obscure artifacts but they will all be pieces that I have a personal affinity for.

Buy Beautiful Signor

also check out Cassells' Soul Make a Path Through Shouting