Scott man publishes volume of poetry, fiction
Courtesy of Giulio Magrini
Scott Township resident Giulio Magrini
Courtesy of Giulio Magrini
“The Color of Dirt” was published in September by Word Association Publishers.
Back in 1986, the British singer-songwriter Billy Bragg put out an album called “Talking to the Taxman About Poetry.”
Needless to say, the whole notion of chatting about iambic pentameter with the fella who wants to make sure you’ve done your duty and paid your taxes is slightly ridiculous. But with Scott Township resident Giulio Magrini, you could have enjoyed an in-depth conversation about poetry even as he was doing his work as an enforcement agent for the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue’s Pittsburgh office.
“They feared my badge, or what I could do to them, and I suppose they had a right to do that,” Magrini explained recently. “But once I assured them that my reasons for being there were to help get them in compliance with a minimal amount of pain over a longer period of time, I was able to help them, their business, their family, any employees they had. Once I had an opportunity to explain that, it was no problem.”
Now 73 and retired from his day job, Magrini can devote himself to the poetry that has fascinated him since he was an undergraduate at Duquesne University more than 50 years ago. “The Color of Dirt,” a volume of his poetry, mixed with some short fiction, written over the last half-century, has just been published by Word Association Publishers in Tarentum.
“It’s called ‘The Color of Dirt’ for a reason,” Magrini said. “It’s about the shades of meaning in life that I went through, and I used the analogy ‘the color of dirt’ to signify some of the things that were part of my growth.”
He also joked, “I’m in my 70s, and I want to have something to donate to the next book burning, whenever that is.”
A few of the poems are written in Italian, and when Magrini reads them in public, he wants his audience to “listen to the sounds. I don’t want them to be able to understand Italian, but I believe in the music of language, no matter where you are in the world.”
One poem Magrini wrote has been preserved in the collection of the Senator John Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh. “The Pittsburgher” was written in honor Richard Caliguiri, the mayor of the city who died at age 56 in 1988. According to Magrini, “That was quite a thing for me. … The mayor was a young man, exemplified the city of Pittsburgh in a way no other politician could.”
The book is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other booksellers. Information on poetry readings by Magrini is available by sending him an email message at giulio27@verizon.net.