Vincent Ferrini: My Friend
I called Vincent out of the blue in the winter of 2000 in order to get some information about Charles Olson's political concerns in Gloucester, MA. Since Olson's Maximus Poems began as a series of letters to Vincent, I decided to go directly to the most informed source. When I visited him the next summer, and taped our conversation, I was amazed. Vincent educated himself at the library in Lynn, MA, and he earned his living building frames for local painters in Gloucester. It was like visiting William Blake, and I learned from him what a real poet values: not fame or wealth, but to make a difference in the community, local and universal. His parents were immigrants to this country, and I continue to admire how a man of such meager means managed to accomplish so much through, solely, his devotion to his art. After playing the tape of my conversation with Vincent for a friend, he suggested that I transcribe it and "get it out there" since he was so impressed by Vincent's words of wisdom. Realize that the conversation that follows took place prior to 9/11. I remained friends with Vincent afterward, and what I learned from him is incalculable. We communicated regularly, and I visited him as much as I could until his passing in 2007. Becoming friends with the man Walter Lowenfels termed "the last proletarian poet" was a life changing event for me. I learned more from Vincent than any other individual I've ever encountered.
https://www.bigbridge.org/issue9/ferrini2.htm