The Ascension
A Collection of Previously Unpublished Poems
By: Richard Cain

Themes of nature and the seasons; dualities of day and night, sun and moon, past and present; the perversity of time and Fate dominate. Moods run the gamut from abject despair to exaltation. There is much melancholy, but also much hope. A sad chorus sings throughout, but joy has its solos. A strong spirituality pervades the poems that address, implore, and praise the poet’s God.

From couplets to villanelles; from random rhyme to free verse, the poet uses rhymed and unrhymed forms and varied meter. The poet clearly loves, and is adept with words, and has an uncanny knack for imaginative metaphors. The poems tend to be personal and empirical, but often exhibit a flare for the metaphysical, reflecting a deep capacity for introspection that is creatively analytical and insightful. From simple to enigmatic, clever to straight forward, the character of the poems suggests the poet’s intimate familiarity with the forms and expressive styles of poetry in English all the way back to Chaucer. It is a familiarity through which the poet artfully and effectively finds his own unique poetic voice.