The Insistent Island is a hybrid work, neither essay nor translation, but a poetic response to the myriad incarnations of the Odyssey; particularly Samuel Butler’s prose translation as lodged in Beck's memory from a 1980s audiobook rendition. The poems were written over some thirty years, finding their synergy unplanned and unexpected. Like Homer's originals, best taken with food and drink and, of course, a pinch of salt. Drawings by Michele Lombardelli.