“Rye flowers, tablecloth of fears.“
A book of poetry is a great challenge. A reader always finds themselves undecided whether or not to tackle a text they’re unlikely to fully understand. This is because reading a collection of poems is reading oneself, through another person’s words.
Given the countless requests we’ve received, we’ve decided to take on this challenge. So we’re talking about poems as fresh as the early morning air, as intense as a strong espresso, and partly still unripe but close to ripening, by a young author.
Although it’s not our most comfortable reading medium, we were pleasantly surprised by the poems, which we reread several times before writing these words. Layered thoughts that were a pleasure to reflect on. We’re certain that some poetic images will remain a part of us forever. We’d like to focus on just one line, which is the one we chose for this review: “Rye flowers, tablecloth of fears.”
The meaning of human relationships in a nutshell. How many times have we been forced to sit at the table, alone, with others, especially family members, just to hide problems, avoid facing issues, or put off unfortunate decisions? If we look back in time, we see cupboards filled not just with tablecloths, but with napkins and everything else necessary for meals, set where eating shouldn’t be allowed. Memories of waiting, playing with fears like breadcrumbs. Tablecloths that someone first washed, ironed, and prepared for us, and then we prepared for others.
This is one of the windows to the soul that reading the poetry collection opened for us.
We were less pleased with the preface. An addition that doesn’t adequately prepare the reader to tackle the poem. An unsolicited piece of advice to the publisher: if you publish other poems, have the preface written by someone other than the author.
We were also not convinced by the format of the book (intended as an object); perhaps a different layout could have given greater intensity to the work as a whole.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Isabella Garanzini, Amigdala, aurore e radici, Edizioni La Gru, Latina, 2025