Image Courtesy of Sha Ribeiro.
Poetry stands as one of humanity’s most primal and enduring art forms—a raw, unfiltered outpouring of words, rhythms, and silences that unlock dimensions of emotion and thought. It’s the craft of pouring the intangible into language. Yet, in an age drowning in the noise of instant gratification, the art of verse risks slipping into oblivion.
Italian poet and writer Gabriele Tinti has dedicated himself to rescue the cultural significance of poetry. His project, an ode to the timeless power of words, reimagines poetry for the present moment. At the heart of this endeavor is his long-standing partnership with filmmaker Abel Ferrara, who is making his vision come to life by reading and performing his lyrical verses. Together, they are not only reviving poetry but reframing it, making it visceral, urgent, and impossible to ignore.
"I have this curse of taking language seriously; an intolerance for its trivial use, and a desire to put words together to create new meanings that emerge the moment they're spoken."
SLEEK: Your project focuses on the subject of immortality. Why does the concept interests you so much? What does immortality mean in the art sphere?
Gabriele Tinti: The morning of the day Japanese author Yukio Mishima was about to perform the seppuku ritual, he left a note on his desk with his final words: “Human life is limited, but I want to live forever”. We’ve always been driven by this crazy desire for transcendence, hoping that somehow there’s something beyond death.
S: Words when spoken are fleeting moments, how do you define the impact of words?
GT: My interest in poetry came from my obsessive relationship with words and the suffering they caused me. I have this curse of taking language seriously; an intolerance for its trivial use, and a desire to put words together to create new meanings that emerge the moment they’re spoken. And this, even if it only lasts a moment like you said, is something magical and fundamental, it’s what defines us and drives us.
S: With your poems you are letting the remains speak. By working with Abel or other personalities, they are taking on the role of speaking for the words that were written. It is like a constant cycle of interpreting art and finding your own voice through it. Is that what art is supposed to be?
GT: Yes, it is so. We all work with material that’s layered over time, we’re the result of words, images, and sounds from the past. Poetry comes from an accumulation. It’s always been about working with pre-existing material. Since Homer, every poet has reinvented some lines, borrowed words, metaphors, images, even paraphrases from previous poets. Anyone who comes later has to deal with those who came before. My source of inspiration is ritual funeral laments, inscribed epitaphs, and then the elegies and epigrams of the Greco-Roman world and early Christianity. I don’t think there’s another way to create something, especially in this part of the world, without engaging with all these past worlds including words, images, myths that define us.
Image Courtesy of Sha Ribeiro.
S: This process of taking something and making your own art with it is like reviving and preserving a moment in history. Is writing poems like freezing a moment for you?
GT: For me, writing poetry is about trying to make the absent present, to capture what transcends the moment, the here and now.
S: Your project also confronts the topic of how much time we spent in front of an art piece. Reading the poems is more like a multi sensory experience which is a more stimulating experience than a poem on its own. Do we need more senses to be triggered to be interested in art because of the digital age?
GT: It’s undeniable how digital technology has expanded our world, yet at the same time, it has numbed its outcomes. We’re inundated with images that prioritize photogenic appeal over conveying meaning. Images from the past, those that had their own depth, enter into my writing alternatively as direct references, as evocations, but also simply as “stages” for a monologue, a closet drama, a type of writing not meant for the stage but for an intimate, anti-spectacular reading by a single reader. I like there being this kind of ritual and context when someone reads my poetry. Though I would never do it at a festival, under a tent, for a bored and distracted audience.
S: Your collaboration with Abel has been going on for five years already. What connection do you both have for it to be a long-lived collaboration?
GT: Abel is fantastic. Once he embraces an idea, he dives into it generously. He’s a brilliant, spontaneous, and creative personality. Spending time with him means never getting bored and always learning something new. I care deeply for him and owe him a lot.
S: What does being poet-in-residence at the National Roman Museum mean to your creative work?
GT: It’s the culmination of all these years spent at the museum, in this place where it’s still possible to speak with our ghosts and imagine a new work.
Image Courtesy of Sha Ribeiro.
SLEEK: Your background in movie making already marks your interest in storytelling, how did your work with Gabriele begun? What sparked your interest in expressing his poems through your voice?
Abel Ferrara: Gabriele approached me out of the blue. It’s something I’ve only experienced once in my life. I read Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” in a church in Brooklyn a long time ago. I enjoy doing things that make me forget I’m a director or a storyteller.
S: Your work always incorporates any form of expression; movie making, acting and now presenting the poems. Does your expression differ each time in each medium? How would you define your expression?
AF: I don’t overthink it. I take the poem as it is, devoid of history and disconnected from nature. I focus on each word in the moment, being present with Gabriele and the audience.
S: How has your interest in myths shaped your creative path?
AF: Myths shape your unconscious from the time you’re in your mother’s womb. As a Buddhist, I believe your soul has traveled this path countless times over countless eons. You are the source of the myth.
S: You have been living in Rome for a long time now, what made you stay in the city? How has the city influenced your creative output?
AF: The city has been here forever, and I feel that more in Rome than anywhere else. I’ve lived and worked in Rome for 20 years. Being in Europe provides easier access to the places I dreamed about growing up in the USA.