The Beat Goes On...

[Amor de Cosmos]

Lawrence Ferlinghetti RIP

[ad hoc]

Remember going to City Lights bookstore a few times, it was (is? ) one of those bookshops that one could spend hours in. Walked along that street just after 9/11 and the waves of propaganda that it spawned and there was a huge banner hung up "Dissent is Not Unamerican"

“PITY THE NATION”
Lawrence Ferlinghetti (After Khalil Gibran) 2007

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 conquerors
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!

copyright Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1919-2021)

(not far shy of his 102nd birthday. Not a bad innings)

[ursus arctos]

Still is

And if there is any justice in the world, will be there as long as SF is

RIP

[Amor de Cosmos]

I was pondering Ferlinghetti's passing last night. It occurred to me that Beat represented the last time poetry was part of the cultural mainstream, or maybe a tributary of it. Ginsberg, Corso, Kerouac, Snyder, Ferlinghetti, these were all names to be reckoned with when I was a young teen. We read their stuff, you couldn't claim to be truly hip if you didn't. Didn't last long of course. The folkies took over, then Dylan went electric and everything changed, probably forever.

But maybe not. AdeC jr's begun adding rhyme to his illustrations. Perhaps the BackBeat has just begun.

[ursus arctos]

There was that whole Rod McKuen thing that either helped bury it or pissed on its grave, depending on where one had come in.

But yeah, a lot of that audience seemed to shift to lyrics. Though poetry slams continue to find an audience, as does word first hip hop. And then there is the periodic frenzy over inaugural poets, which dates back to Frost/JFK.

[delicatemoth]

I'm only vaguely familiar with the beats. Am I right in thinking that Ferlinghetti was one of those figures who promoted the work of others over his own? Such people are essential.

[ursus arctos]

Very much so

[Amor de Cosmos]

I'm only vaguely familiar with the beats. Am I right in thinking that Ferlinghetti was one of those figures who promoted the work of others over his own? Such people are essential.

He did, although, in print, he was frequently included with others. I had an edition of Ginsberg, Corso and Ferlinghetti IIRC.