"Sentry Towers", by Maria Luisa Spaziani, and translated and edited by Laura Stortoni, is a beautiful dual language collection of poetry. "Sentry Towers" presents both the original poem, written in Italian, and on the opposite page, Stortoni's rendering of the poem in English, affording the reader the opportunity to refer back to the original. It is appropriate that both versions are presented. The translated version of a poem could never replace an original, which makes offering only the translated version an injustice. In presenting both the Italian and English, Stortoni does not pretend to REPLACE the original poem, but compliment it. Spaziani offers up "a summation of her most moving life experiences" in a simple yet deeply personal style. The book is divided into two sections, "Sentry Towers", and my favorite, "Verona-Paris Trip". The "Verona-Paris Trip" poems are an invitation into the author's psyche as she explores the memories of her trip and her love affair with Paris. Spaziani effectively conveys to the reader her sentiments of love, loss (of her mentor poet Eugenio Montale), and nostalgia. The end of the collection cleverly coincides with the memory of the end of her trip, narrated in the seemingly everyday, yet powerful words "I must leave again. I will do it/ without the flood of tears . . . I thought I would never see Paris again./ It was not easy to travel in those days./ I have returned twenty times (and yet,/ was I the same person?)." This book of poetry demonstrates why Spaziani is deserving of the praise she receives, from being considered one of Italy's foremost poets, to achieving candidacy twice for the Nobel Prize for literature.

A reader from Santa Barbara, CA