Gabriele Tinti’s Hungry Ghosts is a cycle of 51 poems
written in collaboration with the photographer Roger Ballen,
whose photographic negatives are reproduced in the book.
The images are mostly terrifying, in keeping with the
otherworldly inclination of the poems. This bilingual edition
includes Tinti’s original Italian poems with English translations
by David Graham, interspersed with Greek lines taken from
inscriptions found on archaeological objects and from ancient
Greek texts.
The book is inspired by the Petavatthu, a Theravada
Buddhist scripture that includes stories about the realm of the
“hungry ghosts,” a category of supernatural beings ubiquitous in
East and South Asian religions, with section headings such as
“Abandoned Ghosts,” “Protectors,” “Guardians,” and “Hungry
Ghosts.” T he poems are quite short and try to emulate the
obscure, esoteric quality of scriptural language, though they
struggle, at times, under the weight of too many venerable
references drawn from both Buddhist and Greek traditions.
Internet:<poetryfoundation.org>
(adapted).