This week's Poetry Friday honors famed American poet, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, co-founder of San Francisco's City Lights Bookstore, and publisher of many notable Beat poets, including Allen Ginsberg. Ferlinghetti turned 100-years-old Sunday. From the street outside his San Francisco apartment, friends and fans gave him a birthday serenade and read his own poetry to him. Today, KNAU listener Priscilla Aydelott, long-time English teacher and co-founder of The Northern Arizona Book Festival, reads Ferlingetthi's Poetry As Insurgent Art: I Am Signaling You Thorugh the Flames.
Priscilla Aydelott:
Lawrence Ferlinghetti I always thought of as a Beat poet. But then when I was getting ready to do this today – which I’m so happy and excited to be here – I found out in just reading a little bit, that he really wasn’t. You know, Ginsberg called him “a genial businessman”. Ginsberg wanted to go for all the grants, and sort of take over the National Endowment for the Arts. And Ferlinghetti himself said, ‘it’s complete hypocrisy to attack the government and then take their money!’
I am going to read a poem called 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....
Poetry Friday is produced by KNAU's Gillian Ferris. If you have an idea for a segment, drop her an email at Gillian.Ferris@nau.edu.
