Thursday, December 27, 2007

Vincent Ferrini, 1913-2007

Vincent Ferrini has died. His nephew, the filmmaker Henry Ferrini, sent me the following obit, which he wrote himself:

Vincent Ferrini died December 24th. His death was the result of a recent heart attack and bout with pneumonia. He resided at Den Mar Nursing home in Rockport since last May after returning from his latest reading at Beyond Baroque Literary Art Center in Los Angeles. He was 94 years old. For anyone who knew Mr. Ferrini his passion and engagement for the art of living will always be remembered.

If the poet were writing this obit he would say he did not die but rather merged into the pleroma. The pleroma was a word on his mind during the last few years. In Greek it means, "fullness.” The early Christian Gnostics saw it as the dwelling place of spirit and to scores of people in his community Vincent was the spirit & conscience of Gloucester.

Venanzio Ugo Ferrini was born in Saugus, Massachusetts on June 24, 1913 to John and Rena Ferrini. His parents emigrated separately from Abruzzi, Italy to work in the shoe factories of Lynn. Vincent’s own experience in the shoe factories and during the Great Depression instilled a great sensitivity for the life of the working poor.

In high school he found that books contained the keys to discovery and it was then that he resolved to become a writer. Ignoring his father’s admonition that a son of a shoe worker could never become a poet, he graduated from Lynn Classical and not having the money for college, pursued his education in the Lynn Public Library spending each day reading, studying, looking for answers to illuminate why humanity settled for poverty and war. When the Great Depression hit, the young bard worked as a teacher in the WPA as he worked his first volume of verse about the people of Lynn. In 1940 at the age of twenty-seven he published “No Smoke.”

A simple poem by the poet tells a great deal about the man.

Folk Song.

I pass
by day
and by night
no one has
seen me

If you ever
want to find
me and know me
leave behind
yourself
and enter
the caves
of other
people.

There you
will find
me
who is
yourself.

Mr. Ferrini married Margaret Duffy a schoolteacher in 1942. The couple had three children Sheila, Owen and Deirdre. In 1948 his young family left Lynn for Gloucester. Working at the GE by day, he soon gave up the security of a weekly paycheck to make a living as a frame maker. As he said in his 1975 autobiography, Hermit of the Clouds, being an independent craftsperson provided “the freedom to write when the poem is hot within.”

Mr. Ferrini’s move to Gloucester marked a shift in his poetry from the political and social to the personal and cosmic. Gloucester became a dream place that he made his place. Here his poetry and his life would find no separation.

In the late 40’s after reading a Ferrini poem in a small magazine the poet Charles Olson paid the poet a fan call. Olson first addressed the Maximus Poems as letters to Mr. Ferrini and even after an excoriating attack; the two men remained lifelong friends.

In the sixties after the death of his daughter Deirdre from leukemia, Ferrini’s marriage ended. He later married the artist Mary Shore. When his second marriage ended in divorce he moved back to his frame shop at 126 East Main Street. The little shop became a nexus for many artists and writers who came to Gloucester.

Vincent’s view of the individual, the family, the community and the nation working together for the common good compelled him to write not only to the Gloucester paper but the Globe, the New York Times and the Nation. At city hall he voiced his concerns at hundreds of council meetings. His focus was always the preservation of his city from the wildfire greed that will destroy the spirit and originality of his city.

Overcoming all odds Mr. Ferrini chose life as a poet. He was an academic outsider who lived with no financial remuneration from his labor. His vigor, unbound creativity and compassion kept him publishing for over 67 years producing 31 volumes of poetry, four volumes of plays and an autobiography. He is the subject of his nephew Henry Ferrini’s film, “Poem in Action.”

Mr. Ferrini leaves his daughter Shelia Ferrini of Boston, his son Owen Ferrini from Gloucester, two grandchildren, Ben and Cara Ferrini and dozens of extended family and friends whom he will continue to inspire. His younger siblings Yolanda, Dante and Lindo predeceased him.

A celebration of Vincent Ferrini’s life will be held at a forthcoming date. His upcoming book of poetry “Invisible Skin” is slated for release in the spring of 2008. Literary requests can be sent to Sheilaferrini@aol.com

--Henry Ferrini

You can also read the Gloucester Times obit here:
http://www.gloucestertimes.com/punews/local_story_361000712.html

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

i first met Vincent on the bluffs of the northern CA coast in the mid 80's. Though he is nearly double my age, i never felt the distance of the generations that lay between us. that was one of his many gifts. i only met him a couple times after that; in his glouster MA home, and then 2 yrs ago, back in NO CA. we shared words and laughs, deep conversations, poetry, and the meaning of life as precious moments, side-by-side, as stars dotting the night sky. june 24-Dec-24-07. the days seem fitting a man that lived on the edge of a knife balancing poetry, love and politics. i will miss him, but his words and the twinkle in his (blue) eyes live on in my heart. even with his passing, he has left so many wonderful things behind and inspired so many-- i can only look towards heaven/ and smile, now he has returned to the universe, i carry him with me, a jewel in my pocket/. -sj nyc

Richard said...

Great to meet these special people!

I saw something about him on Silliman's Blog and I copied some of his poems and read them the are very good - "political" on one level but very wise and "poetic" (of course) - but he was writing before Olson - he was as much a character and a power as Olson himself as far as I can ascertain - he did several books. Some well before Olson put pen to paper or came to Gloucester.

Anonymous said...

One of the most inspiring men I have met. I knew Vincent for over ten years and everytime we talked I came away full of hope and love. He was as importnat as the Beatles to writers and the world. He will be remembered in Gloucester and now in death he will be remembered by the rest of the world. As well known as Vincent was in death he will live forever. He will live on in me as one of the greatest I have ever met.

Anonymous said...

I recently discovered Ted Kooser last week in a reading of his (personal) given on UCTV (Davis Campus), much to my GREAT amazement, and now I discover V. Ferrini on the OlsonNow blog, at the time of his passing from us. I will devour his poetry, as I do of all poets who have written contemporary with me and I never knew, nor happened to attend a reading, as life is so much more variable in the process of raising a family and holding down a job, etc.
I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to all who are supporting Vincent Ferrini, and especially to his daughter Sheila, renewed energy to keep on disseminating his poetry, as it is as vital and seminal as any written before him, or since.
EBartScribe
"bretthepoet"

mceyes said...

I met Vincent Ferrini when he came to read at the Poetry Festival at St. Clement's on West 46th Street in NYC in the early 1980s. He was a phenomenon to experience, as noted on this blog, "a living poem." I will be putting the flyer for that reading on my Scribd.com (Mary A Clark)site soon. I am sure he is reveling in the universal stream of consciousness.