Poem in Action is the eye of a filmmaker, sneaking into the world of Vincent Ferrini and exploring the poet's renowned committment to the unity of art and life, "the living poem." Says Robert Creely: "Ferrini has spent his life coming to clarity, to the deceptively seeming simple statement of what it is to be alive." Poem in Action portrays the forces which forged this seminal post-modernist poet: his life as an immigrant's son and factory worker, the Great Depression, the Communist Party, and the poetics of place. Living down the street from the poet provided the filmmaker (his nephew) an opportunity to capture the spontaneity of the man and the ever changing landscape of their home in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Vincent's magnetic presence and unyielding creativity make for an energizing example of the artist in the community. Not the poet as reclusive or diffident but as spokesman, social activist, teacher, and historian.