Jan Seale

Canticles of the Body

Arts & Literature

“Chris Ellery has dared to create a substantial manuscript encompassing the biggest of subjects, in his words, ‘all totems of the numinous.’ In Canticles of the Body, Ellery wrestles with the many demons and angels that define our earthly existence. Though the overlay is broadly Christian, he draws on his knowledge of mystical traditions the world over and his subjects range from martyrdom to child’s play, from dressing fish to wildcat fires. As he has St. James, the Lord’s Brother, observe, “First the fact and then the meaning of the fact,” we derive from Ellery’s lucid poetry his will to get beyond the superficial and go to the heart of the Spirit, difficult though such an act may be.”