Poetry Sunday: Away above a Harborful... by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Lawrence Ferlinghetti, beat poet, playwright, publisher, and free speech activist died last week at the age of 101. As a publisher, perhaps his crowning achievement was to publish Allen Ginsberg's Howl and Other Poems in 1956. He also helped other beat writers such as Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs to reach readers. Ferlinghetti's most famous collection of poems was A Coney Island of the Mind which was published in 1958.
Here is one of his poems from an earlier collection, These Are My Rivers, published in 1955. I thought it was a good example of the jazzy rhythms and earthy imagery of so many of his poems. I hope you enjoy it.
Many, many eons ago, I studied Ferlinghetti and Ginsburg, and I think I still have the textbook somewhere here. It was called "Twentieth Century Poetry and Poetics." I will see if I can find it! I am sure that many of us have delighted in the images he presents; we just never had the never or the skill to write about them!
ReplyDeleteFerlinghetti was such a powerful influence in so many arenas. He certainly lived a full and consequential life.
DeleteWonderful poem! Thank you.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome.
DeleteI had not previously read much of Ferlinghetti's work. He seems well! worth exploring.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting.
He was quite a renaissance man and his poetry is an excellent representative of the beat genre.
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