No bluff, no puffery: Valentino Assenza brings it! His poetry is born alive, chanting authentic, operatic hymns--howlin prayers--with some bittersweet tangs and tones in the warp and woof, These verses guard and nurse an alien tongue--to better lash and whip the eardrums of those Canucks who like their Can Lit canned. Cos Assenza don't consent to one-way assimilation! Discontented, he's gotta do Al Purdy proud; he's gotta make over Gord Downie; his Canadiana gotta come out Latinate--Italianate--as if Puccini is kicked back with an espresso on College Street (Toronto) or as if Dante be critiquing Fellini in a Bracebridge rec room. Through Painted Eyes gives us English "romanced" to seem a "romance language"-- but piquant, and dulcet, peppery, with Negronis on tap and Hendrix on the hi-fi.- George Elliott ClarkeToronto Poet Laureate (2012-15)Parliamentary Poet Laureate (2016-17)Valentino Assenza writes like an angel performing open heart surgery with no anesthetic. It is raw and poignant and should come with a warning label for those who are afraid of the truth, frightened by love, and leave tears in their memories.- Norman Cristofoli Through Painted Eyes is a beautiful collection. Through tender poetic snapshots and lush lyrical vignettes, Valentino Assenza takes us on a journey of memory that spans both generations and continents - where the old world of Sicilian shopkeepers merges with the modern, urban hustle of Toronto's east end. Through Painted Eyes will help you remember how the wisdom of the past can heal us and move us forward. It will tickle your sense of nostalgia, ignite a desire to be drenched in tradition and culture, but most importantly, it will open your heart.- Andrea Thompson
