Celebrating Lawrence Ferlinghetti

[omega minimo]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/19/DDGJ16AQ8A.DTL

90 year old Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Q: You served as a ship's commander in the Pacific during World War II. What's the most important thing you learned in the Navy?
A: In four years at sea, I learned that the sea is a monster and can turn on you at any time. Seeing Nagasaki made me an instant pacifist.



Q: How have the concerns of poets changed since you began writing?
A: In the social revolution of the 1960s, the chant was "Be here now." Today with television, e-mail and especially cell phones, it's "Be somewhere else now."



Q: Can writing be taught?
A: It has to be taut.

Q: Is texting poetry?
A: It can be.

Q: You've always been an activist, as well as an artist. What do you advise activists who are complacent now that a new, seemingly more enlightened administration is in charge?

A: The dictatorial reign of George the Second almost destroyed our civil liberties as well as our economy.

We shall now see whether an "enlightened" administration can defeat Washington, D.C.,'s culture of corruption. The press has given socialism a bad name, falsely equating it with Soviet Communism. What is needed today is a form of civil libertarian socialism in which all democratic civil rights are fully protected.

Q: Who is the love of your life?
A: Life itself is the love of my life.

[knowbody0]

1. wise words from a lovely man

thank you

[omega minimo]

2. Indeed. Inspiring. Thank you.

:hi:

[murielm99]

3. I love his poetry. I love his bookstore.

How can he be ninety? Look at that youthful face.

[omega minimo]

4. .

:toast:

[Tesha]

5. City Lights -- sigh... (NT)

[omega minimo]

16. Does NH have good/independent bookstores?

:hi:

[Tesha]

35. We're "limited".

If you go over to Keene (50 miles away on the west edge of the state), there's TheToadstool Bookshop. This is a great Indy retailer, but rather far away ;). They operate two closer branches, but they're a lot smaller.

There may be good indies at the other side of the state in Portsmouth (60 miles away; we're a *SMALL* state!), but I don't know that market well.

But for us, at home in Nashua (NH's 2nd-largest city), it's Buns and Noodles or Bounders Books and Muzak or nothing.

Our real saving grace is we're also only 50 miles from Boston/Cambridge. In fact, today, Mr. Tesha and I are at MIT at a mobile web development conference.

Tesha

[fishwax]

6. a kick for Lorenzo Monsanto

Thanks for posting that interview :)

:kick:

[omega minimo]

8. Thought there was a little something there for everyone.

:bounce:

[arcadian]

7. To Ferlinghetti's right is Vesuvio bar

Where Kerouac used to drink. But he used to drink everywhere.

[omega minimo]

9. Vesuvio is one of a kind

:hi:

[Bennyboy]

10. One of my most prized possessions is a book of poetry signed by

Him that I won an a raffle a few years back. I love City lights and the whole North Beach area, the history and the people that inhabited it during the beat and hippie eras. Ferlinghetti, Kerouak, Garcia, Neil Cassidy, Ken Kesey...UNBROKEN CHAIN.....

[omega minimo]

13. What a treasure. North Beach is also one of the most beautiful spots on the planet

:thumbsup:

[UTUSN]

11. K&R #3 for, SHPMATE!1 n/t

[omega minimo]

12. Awesome. I thought his Navy quotes would resonate. Thanks for seeing that

:yourock:

[omega minimo]

14. kicking for poetry vs. "retarded" discussions and for vets

[mulsh]

15. thanks, he's even better in person.

I used to share a table at the old US Restaurant with him & his assistant a couple of times a month when I worked on Pacific Ave. We sort of had a nodding acquaintance.
Always pretty interesting conversations between bites.
If you get a chance check out City Lights. I don't care so much for the US Restaurant since it moved down the street.

[omega minimo]

17. Beautiful. Thanks for sharing that. I hope more people see the thread b/c he is

a unique character and in good health at that age, with the eclectic (including military) background that could be of interest to folks who don't know about him. I like the artists that we honor who also surprise us with unexpected POV or experience... if that makes sense.

What a beatific face.

[EFerrari]

18. I met him when Matt invited us to a post election deal.

I think his people made a mistake, lol, because I didn't know anyone there. But, Lawrence was there and he looked mighty grumpy. :)

[omega minimo]

22. LOL

"looked might grumpy"

[CTyankee]

19. Not a great American poet, but I did enjoy his works in context of his life.

He wrote of his time and his life and I appreciated that. I do not believe his works will transcend him and he will be revered as a great poet, however. There are not many who achieve that status of course...

[omega minimo]

21. Living a poetic life, he will surely be remembered for his contribution, eh?

[CTyankee]

24. Yep, but I don't think that ranks up there with "great" status as a poet.

Great American poetry is the province first and foremost of Emily Dickinson. Then we have our Wallace Stevens and Stanley Kunitz and Gwendolyn Brooks and now our Kay Ryan and Louise Gluck.

[omega minimo]

25. ok

[Wickerman]

20. Sweet, if you like Beat lit, check out Beat Scene Press

http://www.beatscene.net/

Great stuff, one of the best online one-stop shops of great writing.

[RetroLounge]

23. Sigh... I love City Lights...

RL

[omega minimo]

26. Cool. Great photo. Do you have it framed?

:yourock:

[RetroLounge]

27. No, but I should...

:hi:

RL

[omega minimo]

28. oh yeah

a mat in that tile color, a black frame.................. great photo :bounce:

[retread]

29. City Lights !! I remember the stairs and days retreating into printed pages. Hard to believe

it was almost 45 years ago.
http://www.citylights.com/

[saltpoint]

30. People in the United States should value poetry more than they do,

but of course they don't.

I take this personally.

LF is wonderful.

Great post. Thank you.

[kath]

31. A poem that Ferlinghetti wrote shortly before the invasion & occupation of Iraq:

http://www.peaceart.us/speakout.htm

2/12/03

SPEAK OUT
Lawrence Ferlinghetti

And a vast paranoia sweeps across the land
And America turns the attack on its Twin Towers
Into the beginning of the Third World War
The war with the Third World

And the terrorists in Washington
Are shipping out the young men
To the killing fields again

And no one speaks

And they are rousting out
All the ones with turbans
And they are flushing out
All the strange immigrants

And they are shipping all the young men
To the killing fields again

And no one speaks

And when they come to round up
All the great writers and poets and painters
The National Endowment of the Arts of Complacency
Will not speak

While all the young men
Will be killing all the young men
In the killing fields again

So now is the time for you to speak
All you lovers of liberty
All you lovers of the pursuit of happiness
All you lovers and sleepers
Deep in your private dream
Now is the time for you to speak
O silent majority
Before they come for you!

[kath]

32. And here's a page of some of his recent poems, including a good one from 2007:

http://www.citylights.com/Ferlinghetti/?fa=ferlinghetti_poems

"PITY THE NATION"
(After Khalil Gibran)

Pity the nation whose people are sheep
And whose shepherds mislead them
Pity the nation whose leaders are liars
Whose sages are silenced
And whose bigots haunt the airwaves
Pity the nation that raises not its voice
Except to praise conquerers
And acclaim the bully as hero
And aims to rule the world
By force and by torture
Pity the nation that knows
No other language but its own
And no other culture but its own
Pity the nation whose breath is money
And sleeps the sleep of the too well fed
Pity the nation oh pity the people
who allow their rights to erode
and their freedoms to be washed away
My country, tears of thee
Sweet land of liberty!

[omega minimo]

36. In any language

in any era.............. :applause:

[omega minimo]

37. Thank you so much. I'd call that "great"

:applause:

[sally jo]

33. Ferlighetti was one of the first poets I got into during my teens...Q

Thanks for this! 90 years old and still kicking.

[Mrs. Overall]

34. Love, love Ferlinghetti. This article makes me homesick for San Francisco.

K&R

[xchrom]

38. kick