The Changing Light, poem by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

THE CHANGING LIGHT
by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

The changing light
at San Francisco
is none of your East Coast light
none of your
pearly light of Paris
The light of San Francisco
is a sea light
an island light
And the light of fog
blanketing the hills
drifting in at night
through the Golden Gate
to lie on the city at dawn
And then the halcyon late mornings
after the  fog burns off
and the sun paints white houses
with the sea light of Greece
with sharp clean shadows
making the town look like
it had just been painted

But the wind comes up at four o’clock
sweeping the hills

And then the veil of light of early evening

And then another scrim
when the new night fog
floats in
And in that vale of light
the city drifts
anchorless upon the ocean

SOURCE: “The Changing Light” appears in Lawrence Ferlinghetti‘s collection How to Paint Sunlight: Lyric Poems & Others (1997-2000) (New Directions Publishing, 2001), available at Amazon.com.

PHOTO: TheBrockenInAGlory

Happy 95th Birthday, Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Lawrence University Jazz Poetry Quartet performs Lawrence Ferlinghetti‘s classic poem “I Am Waiting.”

Happy 95th birthday, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, born March 24, 1919 in Bronxville, New York.

In Golden Gate Park…, poem by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

IN GOLDEN GATE PARK THAT DAY (Excerpt)
by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

In Golden Gate Park that day
a man and his wife were coming along
thru the enormous meadow
which was the meadow of the world
He was wearing green suspenders
and carrying an old beat-up flute
in one hand
while his wife had a bunch of grapes
which she kept handing out
individually
to various squirrels
as if each
were a little joke

And then the two of them came on
thru the enormous meadow
which was the meadow of the world
and then
at a very still spot where the trees dreamed
and seemed to have been waiting thru all time
for them
they sat down together on the grass
without looking at each other
and ate oranges
without looking at each other
and put the peels
in a basket which they seemed
to have brought for that purpose
without looking at each other

And then
he took his shirt and undershirt off
but kept his hat on
sideways
and without saying anything
fell asleep under it
And his wife just sat there looking
at the birds which flew about
calling to each other
in the stilly air
as if they were questioning existence
or trying to recall something forgotten…
***
Read “In Golden Gate Park…” by Lawrence Ferlinghetti in its entirety at poetryfoundation.org.

“In Golden Gate Park…” appears in Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s collection, Coney Island of the Mind (New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1968), available at Amazon.com.

Painting: “Speedway Meadow” (Golden Gate Park, San Francisco) by Pat Gray, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Prints available at fineartamerica.com.

Don’t Let That Horse…, poem by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

DON’T LET THAT HORSE…
by Lawrence Ferlinghetti 

Don’t let that horse
eat that violin
cried Chagall’s mother
But he
kept right on
painting
And became famous
And kept on painting
The Horse With Violin In Mouth
And when he finally finished it
he jumped up upon the horse
and rode away
waving the violin
And then with a low bow gave it
to the first naked nude he ran across
And there were no strings
attached
***
“Don’t Let That Horse…” appears in Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s collection These Are My Rivers: New and Selected Poems (New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1993), available at Amazon.com.

Painting: “Equestrienne” (detail) by Marc Chagall (!931)

Fire, Beat Erasure Poem by Brinda Buljore

FIRE
by Brinda Buljore

Those who have burned

in the so-white fire

on the beach

now

small clowns

held to the flame

“FIire” is based on Lawrence Ferlinghetti‘s poem “Oh You Gatherer.” Read the original at poemhunter.com.

Pound at Spoleto, Beat Erasure Poem by Donna Hilbert

POUND AT SPOLETO
by Donna Hilbert

saw Ezra

            mandarin statue

aquiline in abstraction

            a tear drop by the aqueduct

chestnut trees in bloom

“Pount at Spoleto” is based on Lawrence Ferlinghetti‘s poem of the same name, found  on page 174 of These Are My Rivers: New & Selected Poems 1955-1993. Watch Lawrence Ferlinghetti read the poem on youtube.com.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Donna Hilbert’s latest book, The Congress of Luminous Bodies, is availble from Aortic Books or at Amazon.com.The Green Season (World Parade Books), a collection of poems, stories, and essays, is now available in an expanded second edition. Donna appears in and her poetry is the text of the documentary Grief Becomes Me: A Love Story, a Christine Fugate film. Earlier books includeMansions and Deep Red from Event Horizon, Transforming Matter andTraveler in Paradise from Pearl Editions, and the short story collectionWomen Who Make Money and the Men Who Love Them from Staple First Editions (published in England). Poems in Italian can be found in Bloc notes 59 and in French in La page blanche, in both cases translated by Mariacristina Natalia Bertoli. New work is in recent or forthcoming issues of 5AM, Nerve Cowboy, Pearl, and Poets & Artists.Learn more at www.donnahilbert.com.

UN WE, Beat Erasure Poem by Donna Hilbert

UN   WE
by Donna Hilbert

didn’t sleep last night
thinking
about   un   we
consider
un   we
in the abstract
dig it
Un   we  is  some  deal
on TV

common   Un   we  is
all      we       have
freedom
Don’t
be deceived
It’s the system
choice
the way things are
America
it’s    Un   we

“UN WE” is based on “Underwear,” found on page 30 of Lawrence Ferlinghetti‘s collection These Are My Rivers: New & Selected Poems 1955-1993. Read “Underwear” by Lawrence Ferlinghetti at poetryfoundation.org.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Donna Hilbert’s latest book, The Congress of Luminous Bodies, is availble from Aortic Books or at Amazon.com. The Green Season (World Parade Books), a collection of poems, stories, and essays, is now available in an expanded second edition. Donna appears in and her poetry is the text of the documentary Grief Becomes Me: A Love Story, a Christine Fugate film. Earlier books include Mansions and Deep Red from Event Horizon, Transforming Matter and Traveler in Paradise from Pearl Editions, and the short story collection Women Who Make Money and the Men Who Love Them from Staple First Editions (published in England). Poems in Italian can be found in Bloc notes 59 and in French in La page blanche, in both cases translated by Mariacristina Natalia Bertoli. New work is in recent or forthcoming issues of 5AM, Nerve Cowboy, Pearl, and Poets & Artists. Learn more at www.donnahilbert.com.

Fortune Has Its Cookies to Give Out, poem by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

FORTUNE HAS ITS COOKIES TO GIVE OUT
by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Fortune

                   has its cookies to give out

which is a good thing

                    since its been a long time since

         that summer in Brooklyn

     when they closed off the street

             one hot day

                and the
                     FIREMEN

                         turned on their hoses

    and all the kids ran out in it

     in the middle of the street

      and there were

                maybe a couple dozen of us

                                   out there

with the water squirting up

                      to the

                         sky

                               and all over

                                         us

     there was maybe only six of us

                           kids altogether

               running around in our

                         barefeet and birthday

          suits

                 and I remember Molly but then

           the firemen stopped squirting their hoses

                 all of a sudden and went

                      back in

               their firehouse

                        and

          started playing pinochle again

               just as if nothing

                    had ever

                          happened

     while I remember Molly
                      looked at me and

          ran in

     because I guess really we were the only ones there

Photo: “Summer, Lower East Side, Manhattan, 1937″ (detail) by Arthur Fellig, AKA Weegee.

Jim Morrison Reads Allen Ginsberg

In this 1969 photo — taken at L.A.’s Chateau Marmont by Art Kane – Doors frontman/poet Jim Morrison sits in a closet reading a book. The cover looks as if it belongs in the City Lights Pocket Poets series that publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti started in 1955. If Morrison is reading a book from the series, my guess is PLANET NEWS by Allen Ginsberg, a 144-page collection published in 1968. (Morrison admired Ginsberg’s poetry and was influenced by his work.) A selection from the book is featured below.

I am a Victim of Telephone (Excerpt)
by Allen Ginsberg

…Always the telephone linked to all the hearts of the
world beating at once
crying my husband’s gone my boyfriend’s busted
forever my poetry was rejected
won’t you come over for money and please won’t you
write me a piece of bullshit
How are you dear can you come out to Easthampton we’re
all here bathing in the ocean we’re all so lonely
and I lay back on my pallet contemplating $50 phone 
bill, broke, drowsy, anxious, my heart fearful of
the fingers dialing, the deaths, the singing of
telephone bells
ringing at dawn ringing all afternoon ringing up
midnight ringing now forever.

Howl, 2010 film starring James Franco as Allen Ginsberg

In 1957, Allen Ginsberg was in Paris awaiting the results of the U.S. obscenity trial related to HOWL, the book-length poem Lawrence Ferlinghetti had published in San Francisco through his City Lights Press.

The 2010 film HOWL, starring James Franco as Allen Ginsberg, covers a range of subjects — including the 1957 obscenity trial — in some cases using experimental techniques (such as animation of the poem).

I particularly enjoyed Jon Hamm (MAD MEN‘s Don Draper) as defense counsel Jake Ehrlich and Bob Balaban as Judge Clayton Horn. James Franco also turns in an admirable performance as Ginsberg.

I had very low expectations when I borrowed this film (HOWL) from the library — I didn’t think there was any way to do justice to the subject matter. Basically, I expected a Hollywood botch job. Count me wrong!  I was enraptured and enthralled throughout the movie, which features the entire text of Howl in animation such as I’ve never seen before.

HOWL, the movie, directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, is original, respectful, and a fine testament to Allen Ginsberg, one of America’s most important poets. Highly recommended.

Find the DVD on Amazon.com.