Alessandro Manzetti ‘Eden Underground’ Review

Written by: Paula Limbaugh

Lucifer, the Beast,

shows the man the rooms of Hell;

the swollen corridors,

the chandeliers made of bone and onyx,

the black bulbs,

screwed cancers,

ten per group,

ten per room.

The metastases of the bottom of the Earth

lit by darkness.

-Excerpted from The Tenth Circle

Poetry, it’s an odd genre. When you mention the word to someone, some think of rhyming words or fluffy verses; to others it may be that stuff you had to sit through in English class. And then there are those who have read Edgar Allan Poe and know it can be so much more. Alessandro Manzetti dispels those thoughts of the uninitiated; his dark verses bring poetry to an entirely different level. The title, Eden Underground, says it all; it is not at all the garden you thought you knew.

As you begin to read, you’ll find that the words flow like magic; a dark sensuous musicality intertwining with the visions in your head. Deceptive titles like Green Apples, Eastern Heaven, Lacrimosa, and The Garden, hide the reality of the prose. These poems allow one to glimpse the desolate underbelly of humanity without dirtying themselves.

When I was first given this book I thought “Okay, I’ll read a few poems now and perhaps a few more later.” Instead I found I couldn’t put it down. So intense is the writing that I had to keep reading. If you have never read a book of poetry before or if you never thought you could be a fan of poetry let this book be the one to introduce you to the words of verse. Alessandro Manzetti is mesmerizing, so much in fact that I just bought Venus Intervention, an earlier book of his poetry co-authored with Corrine De Winter. I am not disappointed!

It would be remiss of me to not address the eye-catching cover; it’s brilliantly done by Vincent Chong. It evokes visions of despair, I want to look inside and see what is being kept within. Oh, and I am pleasantly surprised! There are striking illustrations scattered

throughout the pages by Paolo Di Orazio. And of course, I must mention the back cover work is done by none other than Ben Baldwin.

Truly this is not a book to miss, you can get it here!

Rating: 5/5