Earth is a Place of Passion

Cyrus Cassells shares the process behind his latest collection—Is There Room for Another Horse on Your Horse Ranch?

Author photo by Cameron Lartigue

Recently, I had the pleasure of welcoming Cyrus Cassells back for a conversation about his latest book, Is There Room for Another Horse on Your Horse Ranch? Given the week we’ve all just had, you might feel this isn’t the time for poetry, even for an exceptional new book by a most beloved lyric poet. 

If, however, like me, you believe poetry is a powerful antidote to personal and social entropy in such times—reorienting us toward interconnectedness—read on. Cyrus Cassells was certainly the poet I most needed to hear this week.   

Cyrus Cassells’s profound works explore identity, history, and the human experience. With a distinctive voice that combines lyrical intensity with meticulous craftsmanship, Cassells is best known for his ten poetry books which have earned numerous accolades, including the William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America, a Lambda Literary Award, and two Pulitzer Prize nominations. Additionally, Cassells has held fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, National Endowment of the Arts, and the Rockefeller Foundation. From 2021 to 2022 he was appointed Poet Laureate of Texas. He is a Regents’ Professor and University Distinguished Professor of English at Texas State University, where he also was awarded the Presidential Excellence Award.

Cassells’s most recent book, Is There Room for Another Horse on Your Horse Ranch?, is a joyful, cosmopolitan exploration of relationships, inspired by his travels. The book celebrates connection—romantic and otherwise. We talked about its resonance with Cassell’s earlier works as well as its contrast with his more political works, including The World That The Shooter Left Us, which was written at about the same time. 

Our conversation delves into the eroticism of language, the influence of the Mojave Desert on his writing, and the importance of silence and solitude in artistic creation.

Watch the video below, or keep scrolling to read an excerpt from the interview. To hear the full interview plus poems from the book (truly, Cassells’s voice is a gift to all of us), check out the video. 

Earth is a Place of Passion

[Interview lightly edited for clarity.]

Radha: Richie Hofmann describes you as “a nineteenth-century Romantic poet.” He says: “Who else could write work so unapologetic in its appetites, so sexy and urbane at the same time? Here we see him at his best-brazen, erotic, confident, and full of verve.”

How do you think about this work? What do you see as the roots of this new book?

Cyrus: Well, it's definitely the most high-spirited and joyful of all my books. In a way, it's a kind of sequel to my third book, Beautiful Signor, which openly celebrated same-sex relationships in an Italian context. The new book has a more cosmopolitan backdrop, set partially in Asia, Europe, and other parts of the world.

This book evolved from old scraps of poetry I’d written. In January 2019, I had a fellowship in Taos. In the midst of snowstorms, I stumbled upon these bits of poetry that I’d never quite used. I thought, "There’s something here; these lines have some energy." So I started playing around with them. I had two weeks at the Mabel Dodge Foundation, and then kept writing through the end of February. I wasn’t sure what I had—it sort of poured out of me quickly. I submitted it to the National Poetry Series as a bit of a lark, just to see if it was really a book. To my surprise, they selected it as a finalist.

Since I’d already won the National Poetry Series with my first book, I didn’t feel like I needed to win again, but being chosen as a finalist confirmed that it was indeed a book. This book’s process was a bit different from my usual approach: I had written a couple of poems before my fellowship, and what I liked about them was that they felt more conversational, down-to-earth, and humorous.

I describe this book as a "sexy after 60" kind of work—still alive and vibrant. 

Radha: It’s a bit more sophisticated than that! 

Cyrus: But I enjoy calling it a "sexy after 60" book. It wasn’t something I planned at all. The process was complicated further when I spent the summer of 2019 in Spain and Italy. During that time, I wrote The World That the Shooter Left Us, about the Stand Your Ground killing of my assistant's father. The buoyancy of this current book helped me navigate the intensity of that one.

My poetry often emerges in cycles, sometimes unexpectedly. My previous books typically took three to four years to complete, but this one came together much faster. Currently, I'm finishing another book in Italy, inspired by Italian literature and cinema, particularly Pasolini and Cesare Pavese, with whom I feel a connection through language and imagery.

This latest book is rooted in my life experiences in Rome as an actor and person influenced by Italian art. It's unusual how quickly it all came together. The title, incidentally, came from a humorous exchange at a reading in Paris, where a young, blond bartender playfully asked me, "Is there room for another horse …?" in a French accent.

Radha: These poems unfold across landscapes in Italy, France, Greece, and Asia, placing both the speaker and the reader in the role of a traveler—the adventurer, the seeker, the outsider, or even the pilgrim. I’m interested in how this parallels the perspective of a lover. Do you think about that?

Cyrus: Oh, definitely. I was just reflecting on it before we began this session. The experience of falling in love is like entering a new world, willing to risk a new perspective that the beloved represents. It’s about being open to learning and risking something unfamiliar.

I was thinking about Terrence Malick’s movie The New World, where John Smith and Pocahontas look at each other with this mystery, like, "Who are you? Why am I drawn to you?" It’s the same sense of discovery, both in the landscape and the person. Sometimes, you fall in love with someone from another place, which brings the potential for travel, learning, and exploration. That’s the spirit of the book.

The title is playful, suggesting a love that’s not about possession or jealousy. It’s more of an affectionate acknowledgment, like, "You’re a busy person." I continue to travel frequently, and though I’m a tourist, I feel like a vagabond—like Cher’s "Gypsys, Tramps, and Thieves."

I was explaining this to a lover I’ve been with, informally, for almost 18 years. Recently, after being together, I felt more like myself than I had in months. It was paradoxical; the intimacy made me feel more like me. That’s the kind of mystery in the book: this exploration of what love can look like outside traditional notions of relationships or marriage.

Ironically, after writing this book filled with romantic energy, the pandemic brought one of the most celibate periods of my life, as I was often away from home and my partner, who lives in Texas. So, it’s left me questioning, “What’s it all about?” I’m trying to honor the mystery while reminding people of the sacredness of connection, even when it’s brief.

People resonate with movies like Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, and Before Midnight, where characters meet powerfully and then part without clinging. It’s about appreciating the impact of those encounters. There are a few people I’ve met while traveling—some I haven’t seen in years or who live far away—yet I still feel close to them. It’s this spirit of connection and openness that I wanted to capture in the book.

Radha: One of the things I always look for in poetry is that shift in perspective. In these encounters, even brief ones, there’s a sense that something has shifted—a small, yet fundamental change in the landscape of the psyche.

Cyrus: In a previous book, I wrote a poem about sharing a sunset with someone. A reader once told me they found it highly erotic. I was taken aback, as I hadn’t consciously added that element, but they could sense it. I thought, Was it that obvious? It was one of those encounters where it could have become something more, but didn’t. There was something beautiful in simply sharing that moment, discovering we’d both lost our parents, and creating this atmosphere of exchange.

One of my poems deals with the death of someone very close to me. There was nothing romantic in our relationship, but when he passed, it was like revisiting another lifetime we’d shared. It was powerful and strangely intimate, layered with emotions that surprised me. I saw him in a new light, like another facet of his soul. Since he was a public figure, I’ve had to be discreet, but I sometimes feel as if we shared a past life together, and that deep bond emerged powerfully during my mourning.

During that time, I was fortunate to have the support of a close friend, the abbot at the Christ in the Desert Monastery, who invited me to stay in a hermitage. That solitude in the desert transformed my productivity—I haven’t stopped creating since. The silence allowed me to really listen to myself, shutting out distractions. My time between the monastery and Taos was transformative; it gave me the space I needed to create and listen deeply.

For this book, I isolated myself again in the winter in Taos, revising and polishing while abroad. That distance from my country gave me clarity to address issues, like gun violence, that are close to my heart. The book is ultimately joyous, but it’s underscored by the value of silence and listening. 

We’re constantly inundated with information, and as poets and creators, we need time away from it all to hear ourselves. I was lucky to be given a hermitage—it’s dramatic and beautiful in its own way. Having grown up in the Mojave Desert, I feel a natural connection to such landscapes. It’s a part of me, shaped by life circumstances beyond my control.

Radha: This sense of exchange is so powerful—when people enter your life, whether briefly or for a long time.

Cyrus: It’s important that they get a chance to know you, if that’s possible. I’ve always been very outward-focused. I’ve had three husbands or partners, beyond the various people who make appearances in my life and my work. Pulling back from relationships for the past couple of years has actually been a good thing. It’s allowed me to step away from being shaped by others and realize how much exchange and mirroring are essential parts of being.

I have a lot of younger people in my life, and I can’t honestly tell them that love, sex, and relationships get any tidier as you get older. They’re always a little messy, a bit unpredictable, and timing rarely works out perfectly. Reaching moments of real connection or clarity can be a struggle, yet they’re worth it. In my earlier book, Beautiful Signor, I realized I was exploring the idea of the beloved. I genuinely believe that love, romance, and Eros are true paths for human beings. But in the U.S., our culture leans toward Puritanism, so I feel I’ve had to carry the banner for a kind of sacred eroticism and sacred romance—and that’s definitely part of this book too, albeit with a lighter touch.

I joke a lot about how love doesn’t always align with our expectations, especially when we’re drawn to people who don’t fit any of our usual criteria. There’s humor in that tension! My first partner, for instance, wasn’t intellectual at all, and I thought, as a young person, that I needed someone brainy. Over ten years, though, he became more of a book lover, while I grew more social and confident. It’s funny to think, but I was actually quite shy once. Acting coaches and teachers have worked hard over the years to push me out of that modest, reserved part of myself, and I’m grateful for that.

Radha: Yes, that makes a lot of sense. In a powerful performance by an actor, or in the remarkable poems in this book, we’re responding to what’s not expressed, too. The words or performance are presented to us, but there's also a depth and an interiority that remains unspoken. That underlying element is what gives the performance or the poem its power. It’s hard to put into words, but we recognize it when we encounter it.

Cyrus: A lot of actors are actually on the shy side. People often assume acting is about exhibitionism, but it’s really about a deep soul-searching—just as poetry is—where you’re trying to access emotion, which is really what life on Earth is about. People who try to skirt or avoid emotion miss the point of being here on “schoolhouse Earth.” Earth is a place of passion, a place where we’re meant to truly learn to access our emotions.

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View this and other interviews on the Poet to Poet YouTube channel.

Learn more about Cassells’s work on his author website.

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"Radha Marcum writes unflinchingly and with a rare synthesis of lyric and scientific intelligence, investigating just what it is to exist with consciousness now.” —Carol Moldaw, author of Beauty Refracted