Dante’s House

Taking as its subject the rumors, misunderstandings, and half-truths that often comprise our knowledge of others, this latest collection of poems from Richard Greene captures the various states of feeling that come with a flawed life. Moving from his mother’s oil paintings and the harrowing conditions at a corrections facility to recollections of a much-loved mentor, this collection of verse is capped off by the lyrical and moving title poem. Written in fluent, colloquial terza rima and set in sun-drenched Siena during the frenzied pageantry of the Italian city’s biannual horse race, it is a brilliant, beautifully realized achievement that consolidates Greene’s reputation as a master of narrative verse.