Umberto Fiori is an Italian poet who was born in Sarzana in 1949; today he lives in Milan. He has published four collections of poems. You will find his volumes of poetry in Books Upstairs – an eclectic book shop located on College Green, (south of the River Liffey) in Dublin city. A very good friend of mine has just leant me Terminus by Umberto Fiori. It is a typical slim volume of twenty poems which have been translated from Italian. The book was published in 1998 by Poetry Ireland (Dublin) and The Tyrone Guthrie Centre (Annaghmakerrig, County Monaghan).
The poem Terminus is a lovely poem because it depicts a scene where the bus is waiting at the terminus and there is only the driver and one passenger. This poem evokes simple imagery and makes no grand statements. The same could be said of the poem Rampart – another travelling poem which employs the imagery of nature and the little things like ‘gullys’ and ‘walls’ that one would otherwise ignore.
No doubt Umberto Fiori is a fine Italian poet and if you really want to be surprised by fine writing then make your way to Books Upstairs and enjoy volumes that are unique to this particular bookshop.
