This collection is truly global in scope and universal in perspective. From a bog near Ottawa to the lagoons of Venice, from a chamber concert in an Ontario barn to a blind beggar in Mexico, from the infinities of interstellar space to the birth of a grandson -- Henry Beissel celebrates the world in all its richness, mysteries and ecstasies, without ever flinching from its contradictions and torments, and offers exciting sightlines on the human condition.
In the mind's theatre / sightlines determine / where and who you are.
On rare occasions one reads a Canadian poetry book as fine as Henry Beissel’s Sightlines, an important book engaging important themes, a book that might take its place upon a shelf called essential... He is serious without being solemn, he is deep without being sententious, and he is profound without the needless obscurity that often mars bad poetry that muddies its waters to make them look deep.
John B. Lee, Poet Laureate of Brantford and Norfolk County