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Tempo, Excursions in 21st-Century Italian Poetry •  So That the Butterfly Won’t Die, Selected Poems by Hatif Janabi

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Tempo, Excursions in 21st-Century Italian Poetry reviewed by Caroline Maldonado

Tempo, Excursions in 21st-Century Italian Poetry edited by Luca Paci.
£15. Parthian.ISBN 978-1-91-340-56-9

The title of this collection indicates that it makes no claims to be a revised canon of contemporary Italian poetry.  ‘Excursions’ suggests a more leisurely amble, a more personal and democratic approach. The Italian editor, Luca Paci, who has lived and worked in the UK for over 20 years sets out his principles and intentions in the introduction:

Poetry is an essential tool to understand and question at a deeper level events, feelings and attitudes of present and past, recognising the complexity of reality in a radically different way.

He highlights the diversity of Italian poetry in linguistic practice, form and origin. These are poems that criticise…