Aubrey Barnes has always had a mandate to talk about hard things. With honesty comes strength, the poet said. Barnes, also known as “Aubs.
” or “Mister Aubs.,” will release his fourth poetry collection “I Took The Wrong Path” in April. The collection includes 39 poems, many of which center on Barnes’ experience with grief after he lost his brother to suicide.
Benjamin Barnes, also from Rock Island, died in 2022. He was 25. For Aubrey Barnes, reflections on grief sometimes focus on the search for hope and optimism, and obscure the dark patches of mourning.
The collection explores the candid and intimate truth of grief, he said. "I Took The Wrong Path" by Aubrey Barnes will be published Friday, April 11, 2025. The cover art is by Maharah Joy.
“This is an honest reflection of losing a sibling,” Barnes said. Barnes, 33, has written poetry since he was 12. Born and raised in Rock Island, Barnes previously wrote the poetry collections “Unfin” (2017), “I’m not Anti-Love, I Swear .
..” (2019) and “It is Good.
It is Written” (2022). Barnes said much of his prior work looks outward, pointing at what was wrong and what he could remedy in the world around him. But this collection looks inward, he said.
Barnes is both a written and spoken word poet. With years of experience performing spoken word poetry, he has learned how to “live in the skin of a poem," he said. But with written work, readers can linger in the feelings of poem.
“When you have words ther.
