This crystalline set of lyrics is reminiscent of Coleridge’s Conversation Poems, if they were written by a lovesick De Quincey doing his best Keith Richards imititation. The tone is often meditative, drawing on memories that fit the rhythms of the present, day to day, struggle to claim the simple complexities of the heart, and “Ain’t that just a pretty little burden”, writes Ainsworth in the lead-off poem “Acts of Love (1)”. Bare knuckle sincerity, nimble Chaplinesque pirouettes, and sheer poetic nerve drive the measure and the emotion built into the narrative these poems create. It is a variegated narrative thread that could unravel anyone’s chainlink kimono, maybe even yours.
Patio Poems is available right now from Blue Press.
