Jouni Inkala’s poetry brought about innovation of expression into Finnish poetry of the 1990s. My article situates Inkala in the tradition of poetry and literature in the Finnish language and traces the development of themes, topics and formal strategies I consider central in his work (among others, the “great tradition” of Western civilization and culture, relation between spirituality, art and science, intertextuality, self-reflexive qualities, social commitment). The analysis of this development culminates in the discussion of Inkala’s five unpublished poems, which are presented also in the Italian translation. The article and the poems are accompanied by my interview with the author.