Farewell, Far Traveler, Fine Friend

(VÍSHSJS»V®H®N»V®M®S»- ï 3: I «^f*^ Farewell, Far Traveler, Fine Friend «¿*f*±* & Co ? f Russell Maraño died at his Evanston, Illinois, home November 5, 1982. He succumbed Z I to cancer after a long and difficult illness. He was 51. He continued to write poetry until a | I weekbeforehisdeath. I s' From its early days Russ was a staunch supporter of Appalachian Heritage and a | I' valuable contributor to it. In a 1975 letter he wrote: "Your work, Appalachian Heritage, f I is a sensitive portrait of life in Appalachia. It is a very human magazine, a messenger which S ? helps to explain the ordeals and triumphs of our people, and yet, it retains an aesthetic ele- & 1 gance, a difficult balance." Inthatyearalso his writing appeared forthe firsttime inAppa- f @ lachian Heritage in the spring issue. His contributions were extremely welcome because f 2 they portrayed so well a part of the Appalachian experience not easily obtainable. "I was & f born," he wrote, "a third generation Italian, the son of a coal miner and a devout mother | f who could cure the Evil Eye." And further on he added, "The first eighteen years of my life Z k were spent in Clarksburg, West Virginia, a city of 35,000 and whimsically nicknamed The % 1 Jewel in the Hills." The autobiographical sketch (from which the above quotes were § * taken) and two stories, "Between Two Worlds" and "Boys and Veterans", introduce the J I reader to the life and conflicts of living in the Glen Elk section of Clarksburg, which, during I @ the Civil War was a fashionable residential section, but in his youth a ghetto populated by I§* Italians and a smattering of Negroes and poor whites. ¿ At regular intervals from that time on selections from Russ Maraño's writings appeared I I in Appalachian Heritage, another story and then selections from his poems. Thetitles for § this groups of poems are like important illuminated road signs along the highways of his life— 4 Poems from Appalachian Wanderer, Selections from Ghetto Poems, Poems of i y the Junkyard. He had a strong compulsion to come to terms with his own life and experi- Z|· enees as well asthe artistic generosityto wantto share with others. After his book, Poems | I from a Mountain Ghetto (Back Fork Books, Webster, W.Va., 1979), was published he I 1 explained to an interviewer his need to "define the ghetto in lyricalterms, to describe the | i cycle of power, and cohesiveness that holds people together." During the earlier stages of |§ his illness, he continued to work on his "Glen Elk" experiences, and in the Winter-Spring © ? 1982 issue of Appalachian Heritage selections from these, Poems of the Junkyard, s f appeared. In the later stages of his illness Russ wrote what might be called "prayer I|. poems," reflections on life and sickness, God, death, and the human condition. Selections f 2 from these appear after this introduction. | ? In all these years of this very special and wonderful friendship, we never met in person. ï s· We came to know each other through long telephone conversations (often late at night), % I through many letters, various seasonal greetings, and through writing where one is perhaps ® i most himself, most honest, and where the aim is truth as we can know it. And now that Russ I I has passed through the invisible barrier, in the face of this seeming finality, what is there left | € tosay?Whatis importantenoughto besaid? | I This: As long as I have memory, I will remember Russ Maraño. I willthinkof his great |§ generosity of spirit, the tremendous vitality and gusto that drove him to find outlet and direc- s tion in his writing, to come to meaningful terms with his experience so honestly in his I§ *«M£>WS©W(2^íN5g)W(aí>*cS$©w V®W©S» S9 VÍ®M®s»e^«"«©WOP»«"«^OWSi**»«N®WSi^5^2>MSi»aS«s» Night Rider After The Light The Prayer Poems of Russell Maraño¦-&·c\®H(2^Ci(S)MO^cM®H@*>«"¡©?©*"»««S©W©*>«MSHSy» «"«©t-KäP»??f?d?1'»OS(S)HO* 62 «¡(®W®Wv®H)M cIAH(2í*>«^2>HS...