Mary Woodbury

 

Polis, a Greek word for city-state, is this: where you live is your place. Olson implied that you should get to know your place -- your environment -- and then maintain it. Knowing and genuinely seeing (Polis is eyes!) your place can be done by loving it and preserving it.

Charles Olson's poetry embraced environment, and he respected his homes in Massachusetts where he spent his summers. The preservation of his habitat was realized in not only meter, reflecting the sound and perception of memory, but in epic poetry representing large epitaphs of childhood. Similarly, Henry Ferrini's film-making helps to save Olson's ideas and essence, extending the concept of preservation on film.

To preserve is to literally avoid decomposition; its Latin root is praeservare, meaning to observe beforehand. With time-lapse photography, movement, sound, and breath -- as well as commentary of those who have spanned Olson's life -- Ferrini has transcended history, shown a place before, and created a beautiful film that eloquently captures and saves Olson's spirit and philosophy afterward.

As a young boy, Olson watched his mailman father, which probably emphasized the sense that a polis or home could be walked around, that the feel of the place was under the shoes. The local environment was what shaped Olson's perspective of the rest of the world. The ideas of walking out and setting out on a box remind me of Gary Snyder's discussions in Practice of the Wild, where one's place is a mosaic existing in a bigger place, which in turn exists in an even bigger place -- "commons" being a pact with the habitat, to preserve it.

Olson's poetic form, inherent in Ferrini's film, is an embodiment of how the poet eyed things. The motif "form is never more than the extension of content," and Olson's teachings at the Black Mountain College, are on the same continuum. Projective verse challenged closed forms, and walked out from the home. Felt the pavement beneath the boots. There is always the movement forward, and driving without reverse is a challenge. Meanwhile, Ferrini circles around Olson's polis: colorful fish, seagulls, cycles of days and ocean, dark clouds, bright sunshine.

Ferrini does a stunning job in this film; his tools involve what I've heard called a "poetry-in-motion lens" as he illustrates Charles Olson's life, friends, literary background, and geography. The film honors Olson, insights the viewer, and transforms the soul.

As in Lowell Blues, Ferrini's time-lapse photography and filming present historical views with depth and understanding, equipping the viewer with a journey into the heart and mind of the subject. It's easy to lose yourself in the beautiful choreography of Ferrini's music and motion.

The cast includes John Malkovitch, Robert Creely, Amiri Baraka, Pete Seeger, Johnathan Williams, Vincent Ferrini, Peter Anastas, John Stilgoe, Anne Waldman, Ammiel Alcalay, Susan Thackery, Charlie Olson, Charles Boer, John Sinclair, Willie Alexander, Stefan Wolpe, Miami Dolphins, Minnesota Vikings, Charles Stein, Michael Rumaker, and the Black Mountain College.

See more about this film at Polis is This. The film will air on about 50 PBS stations during National Poetry Month. The station listings and times are here. The first ten minutes of Polis is This is here.