Title: Beauty of Morality: Volume 2
Author: Pierre Edens Sully
Publisher: XlibrisUS
ISBN: 978-1-51447-694-9
Pages: 466
Genre: Literature & Fiction / Poetry
Reviewed by: Allison Walker
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Pacific Book Review
Where indeed are we to find a book that blends the gloriousness of language with the necessity of science? In his collection “Beauty of Morality: Volume 2,” author and poet Pierre Edens Sully promises readers such a gift. he wants to kiss the poetry he has created. Sully’s enthusiasm is contagious and from It’s hard not to admire a book that speaks so highly of itself; the author cries out for his poems to sit in school curriculums, the introduction to the very last poem in the book, his writing is infused with this same joy.
It begins in the introduction, with a note of jubilation that foreshadows the tone of the rest of the works. The poems themselves are a celebration of the handiwork of God, an obvious love of and reverence for the Creator. Even the pieces which speak to the morality of man stay true to the title of the collection and focus on the beauty inherent in the goodness of morality. In keeping with this theme, it’s also fair to describe the poems as that of a preacher addressing his congregation. These are poems to be shouted from the pulpit.
The introduction in particular, but even many of the poems, have a very high-handed way of speaking, a kind of literature for the sake of sounding literary. It becomes a transparent eloquence lacking the weight of significance. In a form designed to cut the fat out of the writing, Sully’s poems are sometimes superfluous. For example, “You had established the laws for holding it known/ In good caretaker very strong and very sure/ That not only will you not leave the least exit.” ‘No 58: Let us work together’ has a lovely rhythm, but this meter is only obtained by excess of definitions.
Never is this more apparent in “Beauty of Morality” than in the introduction. Despite some lovely prose in the collection, and a well-written preface, the introduction is rampant with run-on sentences. Almost every piece contained in the collection, whether poem or rare glimpse of prose, is accompanied by footnotes. While footnotes can be used successfully to compliment a poem, it’s difficult to discern whether that’s the purpose in “Beauty of Morality.” For example, the footnotes in ‘No 9: Superfluity’ consist of many definitions: “just means fair.” Meanwhile, the footnotes of the following piece,’No 10: Temptation,’ remark further on the nature of temptations. It’s hard to discern whether Sully is acting serious or playful by their inclusion.
That being said, Pierre Edens Sully writes with a consistency of tone that shows maturity as a poet, the claiming of his own unique voice. He has chosen well to publish his collection now, at a time when his voice and theme are able to bring the poems together into one cohesive total. Being able to achieve that kind of consistency takes endless practice of form, and Sully truly shows his devotion to the genre by creating such a consistent collection.
“Beauty of Morality” stays true to its theme throughout, offering readers literature that remarks on the nature of man and the virtue of goodness. This is a book to be shouted

