Vincent Ferrini

 

Gloucester ’s great poet VINCENT FERRINI (1913-2007) became Poet Laureate of Gloucester in 1998, capping a half-century of literacy achievement in the city. Ferrini’s seven book poem Know Fish (1979-1991) uses fish and fishing as metaphors to explore and embrace all that is Gloucester. Know Fish and Charles Olson’s Maximus poems together give Gloucester its own unrivaled body of epic poetry. Ferrini and Olson were friends, and Ferrini is addressed directly in the Maximus poems. Vincent Ferrini grew up in Lynn, MA, and his notable first book No Smoke (Gloucester MA: Curious Traveler Press 1999 rpt.) depicted Lynn during the Depression. Throughout his years in Gloucester, Vincent Ferrini was vocal in civic affairs and wrote a steady stream of influential plays and books of poetry. The depth of Ferrini’s connection to fishing and the harbor is seen in three poems from Know Fish. “The White Underbelly of the Fish” shows the poet’s zest for life, the prose poem, “A Preface to the Art of Fishing” summarizes the force driving the creation of Know Fish and in “The Harbor,” the poet speaks to the harbor lovingly.

Hear Vincent Ferrini tell "What a Poem is Made Of" and what life is all about in "Foreknowing"

 

from: Know Fish – Books IV & V: The Community of Self (Storrs, CT: University of Connecticut Library) 1986.
courtesy: Vincent Ferrini