At this month’s Introduction to Poets, it will be my pleasure to share the work of Lawrence Ferlinghetti. His 1958 A Coney Island of the Mind has sold more than a million copies. We will meet at the home of Bill Quick and Dianne Lee, at 7457 Wise Avenue in Richmond Heights (63117) on Wednesday 29 August at 7:00 p.m.
Go here for a short biography, selection of poems and bibliography.
Join us and bring a friend who loves poetry!
Mark
_________________________________________________________________
Poetry as Insurgent Art [I am signaling you through the flames]
by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
I am signaling you through the flames.
The North Pole is not where it used to be.
Manifest Destiny is no longer manifest.
Civilization self-destructs.
Nemesis is knocking at the door.
What are poets for, in such an age?
What is the use of poetry?
The state of the world calls out for poetry to save it.
If you would be a poet, create works capable of answering the challenge of apocalyptic times, even if this meaning sounds apocalyptic.
You are Whitman, you are Poe, you are Mark Twain, you are Emily Dickinson and Edna St. Vincent Millay, you are Neruda and Mayakovsky and Pasolini, you are an American or a non-American, you can conquer the conquerors with words….
