Ligurian:
# Fiorenso Toso (1962–2022)

Pâ che i primmi interesci do lenguista, professô universcitäio, poeta Fiorenso Toso foïsan pe l’archeologia; in fondo, pe tutta a vitta o l’à continuou studiando o passou, no con cavâ inta tæra, ma inta lengua, inte sto enòrme caiâ de poule che n’é stæto tramandou, e che no son ancon stæte tutte esploræ, studiæ, catalogæ: o Toso o l’ea un cavou de poule e unna vòtta ch’o l’aiva attrovou ste prie preçiose, o ê cöpellava, o ê travaggiava, o ê deuviava in poexia. I primmi tempi che sciortiva feua e seu poexie, se saieiva posciuo pensâ che foïsan scrite in arensenin, inte un zeneise rustego, pe-o prevai de termini arcaichi, feua de l’uso; in realtæ, se trattava de un zeneise letteräio, construto con l’appòrto de termini rusteghi, ma còlti ascì, tiæ sciù de da-o lescico di antighi scrittoî zeneixi. Tutto pe dâ torna a-o ligure a dignitæ de lengua, ch’a l’é anæta persa apreuvo a-i cangiamenti soçiali e à varie vixende istòriche, politiche e letteräie. L’intençion a l’ea quella, e in fæto o l’aiva construto unna lengua, che into mæximo tempo a l’ea un stile tutto sò. No se inluddiemo che de deuviâ ste mæxime poule porriemo ottegnî un stile pægio, ò solo che semeggeive à quello do Toso. Quello che l’é pròpio da sò poexia o no se peu ciù attrovâ; comme accapita pe ògni veo poeta, a sò personalitæ a stà into stile, inta combinaçion de poule, inte quarcösa de indefinibile ch’o no se peu ciù recoviâ; a poexia a l’arresta comme un giardin ch’o se peu ammiâ da-o de feua, da unna çerta distansa, ma donde no poemmo ciù intrâ.

De soventi, o protagonista de poexie do Toso o l’é o paisaggio ligure, delicatamente revixitou e reinventou con de coloritue pscicològiche.

Inte sta lirica e inte quella apreuvo se peu sentî l’influscio de J. V. Foix, autô co-o quæ o Toso o l’à in commun a caratteristica d’ëse un «cacciou de poule», un can lascia do recovio lescicale, ma a-o pòsto do revezzon surrealista do poeta catalan, reconoscemmo fito ben inte sti versci unna ciù queta assæ äia de cà nòstra e unna mormoâ alluxon a-o descazze sensa retorno de l’entrotæra ligure.

Stæto tornou a-a poexia dòppo ciù de vint’anni de pösa creativa, o Toso pâ ch’o veugge unificâ inte sta neuva fase e numerose solleçitaçioin e stratificaçioin cultuale, tanto da inandiâle verso unna generale recapitolaçion di seu argomenti ciù cäi e da seu reçerca existençiale, in anâ apreuvo, de sta mainea, a-o seu progetto de fondâ torna inti tempi moderni unna lengua letteräia ch’a se pòsse modellâ, espresciva a-o mascimo, boña da esprimme tutte e sfummatue do penscê. E poexie inspiæ a-i depenti do Joaquin Sorolla esprimman e sensaçioin stæte provæ da-o poeta de fronte a-e euvie do pittô catalan e porrieivan ëse accostæ à çerte euvie baròcche che çercavan à fonde insemme de forme d’arte despæge, ma fan pensâ ciù che tutto a-o tiatro: l’autô o dà a seu voxe à di personaggi che s’apresentan a-a seu fantaxia un apreuvo à l’atro e o î fa reçitâ pe niatri. Inte st’opeaçion, o Toso o se peu avvexinâ a-o seu autô ciù cao, Gian Giacomo Cavallo, a poexia do quæ, ascì ben ch’a l’intra inti canoni da poexia lirica, a gh’à un fondo tiatrale, con unna tipica reçerca de l’effetto preçioso, raffinou, a-o de là di conçetti che o testo o l’esprimme.

A longa navegaçion inta vitta, allusa da-a metafora mainaesca, a vedde in sciâ fin, comme inte un resciöo de ciæo, revellâse a presensa do sacro, de un Dê indefinio e aconfescionale areo.

E preuse do Fiorenso Toso ean quæxi tutte d’argomento soçiale, quarche vòtta satirico; in cangio, into caxo de Serv’assæ o l’à tentou un argomento da-e sfummatue sorvenatuale, sciben che no ghe manca quarche accenno politico, ma ben ben distillou e solo che comme sfondo. L’ambientaçion sudamericaña, co-o reciammo a-e istöie e a-a vitta di immigræ zeneixi inte l’America latiña, a consente ascì a ciæa alluxon a-o mondo di sciamen indios che o n’à fæto conosce o Castaneda, co-e seu enigmatiche istöie de don Juan. A voxe reçitante a l’é quella do mæximo Toso, uña de seu ræe registraçioin in zeneise.

English translation:
# Fiorenzo Toso (1962–2022)

It seems that the first passion of the linguist, university lecturer, and poet Fiorenzo Toso was archaeology. After all, throughout his life he continued to study the past, digging not in the earth, but in language, in this enormous heritage of words that have been handed down to us, and which have not yet all been explored, studied, and catalogued. Toso was a word miner and once he had found these precious stones, he refined them and used them in poetry. In the early days, when Toso’s poems first appeared, one might have thought that they were written in the dialect of Arenzano, a rustic Genoese, due to the prevalence of archaic, obsolete terms. In reality, it was a literary Genoese, constructed with the contribution of terms that were indeed rustic, but also cultured, taken from the lexicon of ancient Genoese writers. All this in order to restore the dignity of Ligurian as a language, which had been lost due to social changes and various historical, political and literary events. That was the intent, and indeed he had constructed a language, which was also at the same time his own style. We are under no illusion that by simply using these same words, we will obtain a style equal or even only resembling Toso’s. What is singular to his poetry is completely elusive. As with any true poet, his true personality lies in the style, in the combination of words, in something indefinable that cannot be recovered. It remains like a garden that can be observed from outside, at a certain distance, but which we can no longer enter.

Often, the protagonist of Toso’s poems is the Ligurian landscape, delicately revisited and reinvented with psychological connotations.

In this lyric and the next, one can sense the influence of J. V. Foix, an author with whom Toso shares the characteristic of being a “word hunter”, a hound of lexical recovery, but instead of the Catalan poet’s surrealist delirium, we soon recognise in these verses a much more placid air of our own homeland and a subdued allusion to the irreversible decline of the Ligurian hinterland.

Having returned to poetry after more than twenty years of creative hiatus, Toso seems to unify in this new phase the numerous cultural solicitations and stratifications and steer them towards a general recapitulation of his favourite themes and his existential quest, thereby also pursuing the aim of increasingly corroborating his project of re-founding in the modern era a literary Genoese language that is ductile, expressive to the utmost, and capable of expressing every nuance of thought. The series of poems inspired by Joaquin Sorolla’s paintings express the sensations felt by the poet in front of the Catalan painter’s works and could be likened to certain Baroque works that sought to fuse together different art forms, but it makes us think above all of theatre: the author gives his voice to characters that present themselves to his imagination one after the other and makes them act for us. In this, Toso is close to his favourite author, Gian Giacomo Cavalli, whose poetry, while falling within the canons of lyric poetry, has a theatrical background, with a typical search for the precious, refined effect, beyond the concepts that the text expresses.

The long navigation through life, obscured by the seafaring metaphor, eventually sees, as in a glimmer, the presence of the sacred revealed, of an undefined and absolutely nonconfessional God.

Fiorenzo Toso’s prose was almost all about social, sometimes satirical themes. In the case of Serv’assæ he attempted instead a topic with supernatural overtones, although there is no shortage of political overtones, but very distilled and only in the background. The South American setting, with its reference to the events and lives of Genoese immigrants in Latin America, also allows for the clear allusion to the world of Indian shamans that Castaneda introduced us to, with his enigmatic stories of don Juan. The recorded voice is that of Toso himself, one of his rare recordings in Genoese.