West: Poems

This debut collection starts with a series of poems about Gibraltar. "Alameda Interlude", one of the most ambitious works here, ties together historical reflection and autobiographical reminiscence. The second section looks at Andalucía and its cities. Durante examines the bizarre rituals of Catholicism and the emotional tug they still exert in "Semana Santa" and "Folklore". The third section inhabits the metropolitan gloom of London and contains the title poem "West" and meditations on the unacknowledged beauty of the "unloved" towns and suburbs.The final section - a ragbag of pieces which don't fit comfortably into the previous classifications - contains the deeply personal "Katie" and "Ghost Train", a tribute to a fairground entertainer. "Durante's work is tinged with a sense of autumnal yearning and loss. In spite of this, many of his poems also attempt to construct a life-affirming response to physical decay and pessimism by celebrating the transformative power of minor pleasures and delighting in concealed everyday absurdities and the creative power of human memory. Cynicism and the occasional burst of outright misanthropy are always tempered by his wry, self-deprecating tone." - M.G. Sanchez (author of the novel Jonathan Gallardo)Giordano Durante was born in Gibraltar in 1981. He lives in Gibraltar's Upper Town with his partner and their daughter.REVIEWS: "If the collection had one basic following to heed, it would be that of Hardy's maxim as quoted in 'West': 'The business of the poet and the novelist is to show the sorriness underlying the grandest things and the grandeur underlying the sorriest things.' Through 'Meat', 'Alameda Interlude', 'Eastern Beach Man', 'e-love', all the way to 'One' (the final poem), Giordano Durante heeds the advice of the Victorian poet, making for a stimulating, provoking, and witty debut collection." - Mark Montegriffo, Your Gibraltar TV, December 2017."I have touched briefly on just a few of the poems which make up this collection. There are many more, each as different to the other as the ones included in this review. What they have in common is Durante's economic but rich use of language and his penetrating, pithy observations of human behaviour. His control of form and the pace of his lines, are also impressive, every word seeming to belong exactly where it is placed. We can only hope that Mr Durante will have further poetic offerings to make in the future!" - Conchita Triay, The Gibraltar Chronicle, December 2017.