Only Insistence by James Lindsay

Eclectic, darkly fascinating, and at times apocalyptic,Only Insistenceis a protean book where lines and phrases echo back on each other, where images of the natural world are bookended by investigations that delve deep into memory. In this ethereal world, the poet interrogates his relationship with his father, realigns his idea of family after the birth of his son, and bears witness to the isolation, paranoia, and surrealism of the onset of the beginning of the pandemic.

Here pandemic-era streets are "beaches in early April/Bright and bleached and barren" and a lake is "a rage of waves eroding rocks to a pebble beach,/each small stone confident in immanent restoration." At times languid, at others cunningly sculpted into towering metaphors, Lindsay's rich metaverse experiments illuminate a world that rewards close attention with infinite possibilities. (From Goose Lane)

James Lindsay is a Toronto-based poet and bookseller. He has published two other poetry collections: Our Inland Sea and Double Self-Portrait. His poetry has also been featured in many literary journals such as Taddle Creek and Prairie Fire.