Comments on: Dog, by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

By: chris

chris — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 16:49:57 +0000

As you say, a great manifesto.
and as you say you have to go to San Francisco (i WAS confused by the LA reference) and i find it amazing that an American hasn’t been there – though i understand it’s a huge country.
I have been lucky to visit more than once but it’s a place my soul yearns for.
Thanks for checking out my San Francisco blog – it was my first attempt – i had forgotten but when i was there last time i got to see Mr Ferlinghetti on stage, i wrote about it for Letter K.
And coincidentally, the poem Dog is in my little book just before Challenges!

(Anne is editing in this link to Chris’ blogpost on seeing Ferlinghetti: http://letterfromsanfrancisco.blogspot.com/2007/08/letter-from-san-franciscok.html)

By: Anne

Anne — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 20:06:59 +0000

Other Ferlinghetti advice that is lighting up my Friday evening:

“Read between the lines of human discourse.
Avoid the provincial, go for the universal.
Think subjectively, write objectively.
…
Associate with thinking poets. They’re hard to find.
…
Don’t be so open-minded that your brains fall out.”

Now that’s what I call a manifesto.

By: dolcevita

dolcevita — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 18:23:30 +0000

wow – sehr gute Reflexion!
bin total in Eile, sorry….

By: Anne

Anne — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 18:22:30 +0000

Oops, natürlich (rot anlauf)! Schon wieder ein Zufall, aus Wikipedia: “Als aktive Tierschützerin engagiert (Charlotte Link) sich für PETA und die Straßenhunde der Türkei und Spaniens.”

Aus dem wunderbaren Gedicht von Ferlinghetti:
“Think long thoughts in short sentences.”
That could be my motto.
Aber erstmal lange Gedanken denken !

By: dolcevita

dolcevita — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 18:17:11 +0000

Anne, nicht Link sondern Roche
LG

By: Anne

Anne — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 17:45:38 +0000

Wow!
“Challenges To Young Poets” really nails it. So beautiful. Wise old man.
Chris, I’ve just got to go to San Fransisco. (No, not Los Angeles.)

By: chris

chris — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:19:37 +0000

Now there’s a coincidence! I have on my lap a copy (signed!) of his collection San Francisco Poems and if i turn to page 56 the fifth sentence is –
“The top of Angel island showing through fog funneled through Golden Gate.”
And it’s foggy here today!
Happy thanksgiving for yesterday.
There’s a poem in the collection called Challenges to young poets – originally read publicly in 2001.
It ends “Be committed to something outside yourself.
Be militant about it.
Or ecstatic.
To be a poet at sixteen is to be sixteen, to be a poet at 40 is to be a poet. Be both.
Wake up and pee, the world’s on fire.
Have a nice day.”

You can see the whole poem here -
http://timenearthesea.blogspot.com/2009/07/challenges-to-young-poets.html

I think City Lights has to be one of THE best bookshops in the world, it is of course so much more than just a bookshop.
My personal account lies here (if i may be so bold).
http://letterfromsanfrancisco.blogspot.com/2007/08/ccity-lights-bookstore.html