Ligurian:
# Giulian Balestrê (1910–1969)

O giornalista Giulian Balestrê o l’à portou inta poexia zeneise di stimoli e de suggestioin despæge ben da quelle che o pubrico nostrâ o l’ea avviou; ma i reciammi a-a muxica jazz, à de scituaçioin e atmosfee d’ôtramâ se fondeivan ben con unna çiviltæ e un amiente uman che, into corso da seu istöia, o l’à de longo resentio di influsci ciù variezzæ e diversci fra de lô. Aluxi da-o folcloriximo e da-a retòrica in sciâ vegia Zena, o Balestrê o l’ambienta e seu «ballate sensa tempo inta çittæ dinamica di quartê de Levante, donde o regòrdo, quand’o gh’é, o se attualizza pe contrasto into dinamiximo cotidian de unna capitale commersale» [1]. Coscì i varri personaggi e scituaçioin di quartê do Levante zeneise no son «bossetti», ma figue scimbolo da condiçion umaña.

[^1]: F. Toso, _Emigranti do rie. Poeti in genovese del Novecento_, In forma di parole, Bologna, 1999.

No solo che i temi trattæ da-o Balestrê, ma i ritmi, e frequente interruçioin into fluî do verso e de imagine, tramandan à de atmosfee d’ôtramâ.

Fiña i temmi ciù deciaratamente crepuscolari e provinsali son stæti trattæ da-o Balestrê con un taggio moderno e innovatô in ponto stile.

O ritmo stoccou, e leste notaçioin imprescionistiche fan apensâ à unna meña de jazz verbale. Unna poexia comme sta chì pâ ch’a l’antiçipe çerti versci «mortuäi» do Giannon, e d’atra parte a peu reciammâ çerti momenti misteioxi e comme sospeixi da poexia do Guidon.

Un atro tema da nòstra poexia do Neuveçento o l’é constituio da-a difficortæ, ma ascì da-a bellessa, de transmette e antighe varsciue da çiviltæ e da mentalitæ zeneise a-e neuve generaçioin. Che se confronte sto testo chì con Quande l’é oa do Sergio Sileri.

[^2]: monte Fasce: erto bricco tòsto a-e spalle de Zena.

English translation:
# Giuliano Balestreri (1910–1969)

Journalist Giuliano Balestreri brought to Genoese poetry rather different stimuli and suggestions from those to which local audiences were accustomed. But the references to jazz music, overseas settings and atmospheres blended well with a civilization and a human environment that, throughout its history, has always been affected by the most varied and diverse influences. Far from the folklore and rhetoric about old Genoa, Balestreri sets his “timeless ballads in the dynamic city of the eastern districts, where memory, when there is any, is actualized by contrast in the daily dynamism of a commercialacapital”. [1]. Thus, the various characters and situations in Genoa’s Eastern neighborhoods are not “sketches”, but symbolic figures of the human condition.

[^1]: F. Toso, _Emigranti do rie. Poeti in genovese del Novecento_, In forma di parole, Bologna, 1999.

Not only Balestreri’s themes, but the rhythm, the frequent breaks in the flow of verse and images, hark back to overseas atmospheres.

Even the more overtly Crepuscular and provincial themes were treated by Balestreri with a modern and stylistically innovative edge.

The choppy rhythm, the fast impressionistic notations suggest a kind of verbal jazz. A poem like this seems to anticipate certain “mortuary” verses by Giannoni, and moreover may evoke some mysterious and seemingly suspended moments in Guidoni’s poetry.

Another theme of our twentieth-century poetry is the difficulty, but also the beauty, of transmitting the ancient values of Genoese civilization and mentality to new generations. Compare this text with Quande l’é oa by Sergio Sileri.

[^2]: monte Fasce: a high hill directly behind Genoa.