TEMPO - EXCURSIONS IN 21st CENTURY ITALIAN POETRY

TITLE - TEMPO - EXCURSIONS IN 21st CENTURY ITALIAN POETRY 

EDITED BY - LUCA PACI

PUBLISHED BY - PARTHIAN BOOKS 

PUBLICATION DATE - 1ST JULY 2022 

 

“Tempo - Excursions in 21st Century Italian Poetry”, edited by Luca Paci, is a collection of select works by over twenty modern Italian poets, separated into their own discrete section, with each poem presented in both Italian and English, alongside a short biography of both the poet their translator. Pretty much all the poetry included in this collection is very good to excellent, with vivid, often brutal imagery melding with effortless lyricism, creating many memorable moments. 

There is no doubt that a certain something is lost in translation, as always, but I would argue that something is gained, too. The poems, on the whole, are about the “dark underbelly” of the Italian psyche. The Italian language doesn’t seem suited to such dark themes, it being one of the most lyrical, romantic and “happy” languages in the world, but the translations often lay that darkness bare by using the harsher words of English. It’s telling that the first line of the first poem in the book, the sombre “VI” by Antonella Anedda, translates as “This language has no innocence”. Death and darkness stalk Anedda’s stark poetry; it is deeply concerned with mortality and the inevitability of decay. By contrast, the work of the next poet, Franco Buffoni, evokes Italy’s classical age. 

Much of the poetry is dark to the point of morbidness. The frailty of the human body and it’s eventual collapse, murder, the brutality not only of death but of birth, too, are recurring themes - the visceral body-horror of Dome Bulfaro being a standout - but depictions of such things have rarely been so beautifully rhythmic. However, this is not, to coin a phrase, poetry to kill yourself too, yet the reader would be forgiven for thinking that the world conjured up in these verses jars quite significantly with their accepted impression of Italian culture. From the urgent, urban poetry of Milo De Angelis, to Matteo Fantuzzi’s savage dissections of terrorist attacks and Shirin Ramzanali Fazel’s love letters to language and home - there are rare, enlightening jewels to be found in this uncharted territory, though I feel that the poems are best consumed in small doses. 

The selection is a model of diversity. The aching and poignant verse of Mariangela Gualtieri is fragile and elusive, and concerned with the passage of time, while Andrea Inglese’s clinical and highly visual blocks of prose conjure up images of scientific exhibits, forensically detailed. There is something for everyone in this vital and energised collection. 

With this collection, Luca Paci has delivered a breath of fresh poetic air that deserves a wide audience. If nothing else, it presents a new side to Italy that I assume many are unaware of: an Italian intellectualism that perhaps even it’s own country has suppressed, whether by accident or design. Very much a groundbreaking celebration of Italian poetry, presented in both the original language and in new translations, Parthian Books are to be congratulated for bringing such a vibrant, diverse and thorough compilation of under-known verse to a wider audience. I have rarely been so moved by poetry this dark, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

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