Kevin Densley Books

'Kevin Densley's new poetry collection offers a gently ironic look at the blind spots in our everyday odyssey through life. We are carried into a contemporary small town mindscape built atop the white and infinite marble of ancient myth, infiltrated by pop culture and urban legend. These poems offer a sensuous evaluation of life, which does not exclude tragic overtones. We journey and are caught in those moments in which the struggle to go on and forward is stifled by boredom, self doubt, exhaustion, yet there is always a sense of delicate beauty dreaming somewhere below the horizon. Kevin Densley has the same easygoing intimacy with classic literature as with the modern mindset and these commingle in his poetry so that Dionysus nudges up against modern hero-rulers and their assassins as easily as two Sunday drinkers in a country pub, exchanging the odd laconic aside or knowing nod.' - Isobelle Carmody

With a vibrant blend of humor and critique, this collection offers sharp reflections on culture and politics while presenting historical figures in a fresh light. Densley's poetry ranges from the grand to the intimate, vividly portraying iconic characters like Madonna and Nosferatu. The work oscillates between solemnity and wit, capturing the absurdities of life with a unique style. It aims to provoke thought and inspire change, showcasing the power of language through striking imagery and concise verses.

Exploring themes of history and culture, the collection weaves together vivid imagery and poignant reflections. Densley captures moments of beauty and loss, from delicate sea-horses to the haunting impact of the Great War. Characters like Percy Black embody the struggle between life and death, while everyday scenes challenge our perceptions of art and politics. The work invites readers to ponder deeper questions without providing clear answers, leaving them both desolate and hopeful, enriched by the lyrical journey through memory and emotion.

"With Orpheus in the Undershirt, Kevin Densley has produced his best book yet: sharp but not cutting, tart but not cynical, the collection weaves lyric, barb and lament into a marvellous, prickly garment that soothes as it stimulates. Don't like small, evocative poems as clear and complex as rockpools? Dive into an eight-page outlaw fistfight roaring with dust and despair. Not interested in 'When Johnstone's Circus Came to Town'? (Though why wouldn't you be, with its 'toupeed ringmaster/in a red lamE suit' and aromatic 'strong whiff of manure'?) Explore instead the death of a bantam 'inside the chookhouse/among the warm chooky smells'. Unlike most collections which attempt to blend 'high' and 'low' culture, to find the charge of destiny in the nuts and bolts of the everyday, Orpheus does it effortlessly, without need of gimmicks or creaky, overbearing conceits. Here Kevin Densley fuses the marvels and mundanities of life into a witty, searching collection that sings the subtleties of both." - James Roderick Burns, Other Poetry