I'm sorry to learn of his passing. Wish I had remembered (on the days I
spent in Gloucester) that he had that frame shop, so I could have dropped
in and witnessed him live. For his moving image I guess I'll have to rely
on his nephew's film. Has anyone on this list seen it?
Barry Alpert
On Sun, 30 Dec 2007 11:53:21 +0900, [log in to unmask] wrote:
>Apologies for Cross-Posting
>
>This via Ed Baker from Henry Ferrini:
>
>>
>> "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 [log in to unmask]"
>>
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