Description
The True Gods Attend You is the debut collection by Australian formalist Clarence Caddell. Drawing on the author’s deep reading of primary Biblical, extra-Biblical and other ancient sources and with direct challenges to both secular and religious worldviews, The True Gods Attend You is a profound and self-reflective examination of the modern conscience. The long blank verse poem that concludes the book is “The Candidate”, a glimpse of the burnt-out spiritual seeker at his moment of invisible crisis, worthy of recent narrative poetry masters like Anthony Hecht. With a strong through-line of satire and irony, The True Gods Attend You is a powerful challenge to obscurity in verse and a bold annunciation of the evergreen riches of linguistic euphony.
“The poems share the conviction that from the Creation until now, the questions that shake conventional certainties only lead to further questions.”
– Dr. Liam Guilar, author of A Presentment of Englishry
“Clarence Caddell’s poetry reveals his own wide and perceptive reading and a range of variations of poetic style. He rewards the reader with interesting and challenging perspectives on the human condition-personal, historical and cultural.”
– Professor Barry Spurr
