Flower Press speaks of a curious absence that perhaps cannot be fully relayed, but nevertheless demands to be expressed. We have all, to some extent, mourned the passing of our childhoods; but when such a potent symbol of our childhood passes, such as the death of the young boy here, it is doubly felt. Throughout the collection, the relationship is held at the crossroads of friendship and paramour. It is this suggestion of ‘could be / should’ be that adds to the allure of the poems. The key poem, The Art of Forgetting, is planted at this crosswords, Kinsella citing a German compound noun, “Vergangenheitsbewältigung“. It means a struggle to overcome the past, and it is wasn’t such a hefty term for English tongues to pronounce, it could happily serve as an alternative title for the book. The joy of Flower Press is that it never strays too far from this crosswords – such is the nature of mourning perhaps – while presenting to the reader a complete and fulfilling story.

From Laganonline