The Little Book of Passage by Franca Mancinelli and translated by John Taylor

This is poetry from Italy.

The Little Book of Passage by Franca Mancinelli translated by John Taylor is published by Bitter Oleander Press. This is a Book originally written in Italian. This was published in 2018.0 and has the ISBN of 9.78099932792E12.

The Little Book of Passage, by Franca Mancinelli and translated by John Taylor, has the grace of a threshold text. Mancinelli’s Italian poetry often moves with quiet attention through perception, body, house, light, and spiritual unease. The title suggests crossing, but not necessarily arrival; passage might be a hallway, a transformation, a rite, or the simple act of moving through another day. Taylor’s translation gives the English a measured, intimate clarity. I would read this book for its gentleness and tension, the way small lyric forms can carry the feeling of a life being quietly remade. It does not sound like a book that demands spectacle. It sounds like one that asks you to notice the door, the breath, the moment just before change.

If you’d like to see international poetry continue and gain traction, consider requesting this work from your local library, or purchasing it from places like Open Books (a poetry only bookstore), Asterism Books (an independent press distributor), or bookshop.org to connect you with your local bookstores.

Check out more of the always in-progress translated poetry index here.