Maximus to D.C.

There was an article in a local paper a couple months ago concerning a documentary being planned by filmmaker Henry Ferrini on Charles Olson and his ties to Gloucester, Mass.

Though Olson was one of the key literary figures of the last century, Ferinni says he is hardly known in his beloved Gloucester. Olson, who died in 1970, had a real interest in a sense of place -the focus of many of Ferrini's films. Olson seemed to "change the landscape," Ferrini says, with his writing. His masterpiece, "The Maximus Poems," is all about Gloucester: "The geography which leans in on me, I compel backwards I compel Gloucester to yield, to change."

I visit the port of Gloucester often and often think of Olson when I do (although the past few years I always think of the crew of the fated fishing boat from the Perfect Storm.) But I’m sure there are many that live there that never have even heard of him. So I applaud such an effort to bring the city and poet together.

But as I was reading the article, I came across a piece of information, a scrap of data, that stopped me in my tracks. Stop here and look:

Olson was trained as a scholar and taught at Harvard in the '30s. He gave John F. Kennedy a C in his class, remarking he hadn't yet learned to express himself.

I was aware of Robert Frost’s connection with Kennedy, but had missed his connection with this poet. That C must have made some kind of impact on young JFK, for if there was ever a president that could express himself in exquisite and no uncertain terms, he was it.

So I too am like those residents of Gloucester, unaware of serendipitous events that surround me. Now, I know that our current president received a few C’s in his academic career; I’m just wondering what star-crossed poet was the teacher responsible for one of them.