Poems of Salvation

Thomas Henley Cayne's Poems of Salvation begins a journey of refinement - not deliverance from, but through those seamy streets to seeming fulfillment in the realization that "The goal of the path is the path. Not the goal." But it is an expedition that is internal as well as eternal and one we must make alone - knowing that the places we may find ourselves are "empty, even with {ourselves} in {them}" and that we're "naked underneath" whether it be physically or metaphorically. The poems themselves show a careful, studied refinement akin to taking cautious but patient steps in the only direction there is: forward. Cayne also supplies the photographs and illustrations to accompany his poems, which show the same faithful progression. If art is the pursuit of truth and beauty, we've already arrived at a waypoint, if not the final destination. And for that, praise is due.