A collection of poems by Giordano Durante will be launched this Thursday 14th December. Titled ‘West’, the book brings together 42 poems written in the last year and a half.

The first section is a series of poems about Gibraltar. The central poem of this section is “Alameda Interlude” which combines historical reflection and autobiographical reminiscence. 

The second section looks at Andalucía and its cities. Durante examines the rituals of Catholicism and the emotional tug they still exert in “Semana Santa” and “Folklore”. 

The third section inhabits the metropolitan gloom of England and contains the title poem “West” and meditations on the unacknowledged beauty of the “unloved” towns and suburbs.

The final section contains the deeply personal “Katie” and “Ghost Train”, a tribute to a fairground entertainer. 

Speaking ahead of the launch, Durante said: “After over a year of sharing my poems among friends and trying them out at some poetry recitals, I decided to bring them together as a published collection so that they could reach a wider audience.”

The book is published by The Dabuti Collective.