Lucio Mariani is known throughout Europe as one of Italy's most important contemporary writers. The poems in TRACES OF TIME have been culled from his entire career and are presented here in English. The collection includes Tiananmen, 20 Years Later, Protocols of War and Checkmate, which is about the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers. Every poem illustrates Mariani's concerns through dense imagery and elegant lines, seeming deeply rooted in history, yet at the same time contemporary.