Section: «Poems»

Verse (ancient Greek ὁ στίχος — row, structure), a term in versification used in several meanings: artistic speech organized by division into rhythmically commensurate segments; poetry in the narrow sense; in particular, it implies the properties of versification of a particular tradition ("antique verse", "Akhmatova's verse", etc.); a line of poetic text organized according to a certain rhythmic pattern ("My uncle of the most honest rules").

Poetry as Insurgent Art [I am signaling you through the flames]

I am signaling you through the flames.The North Pole is not where it used to be.Manifest Destiny is no longer manifest.Civilization..

© Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Dog

The dog trots freely in the streetand sees realityand the things he seesare bigger than himselfand the things he seesare his realityDrunks in..

© Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Autobiography

I am leading a quiet lifein Mike’s Place every daywatching the champsof the Dante Billiard Parlorand the French pinball addicts.I am leading a quiet..

© Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Away Above A Harborful

Away above a harborfulof caulkless housesamong the charley noble chimneypotsof a rooftop rigged with clotheslinesa woman pastes up sailsupon the..

© Lawrence Ferlinghetti

To The Oracle At Delphi

Great Oracle, why are you staring at me,do I baffle you, do I make you despair?I, Americus, the American,wrought from the dark in my mother long..

© Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Seascape With Sun And Eagle

Freerthan most birdsan eagle flies upover San Franciscofreer than most placessoars high upfloats and glides high upin the stillopen spacesflown from..

© Lawrence Ferlinghetti

History Of The Airplane

And the Wright brothers said they thought they had inventedsomething that could make peace on earth(if the wrong brothers didn’t get hold of it)when..

© Lawrence Ferlinghetti

History Of The Airplane

And the Wright brothers said they thought they had inventedsomething that could make peace on earth(if the wrong brothers didn’t get hold of it)when..

© Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Dove Sta Amore

Dove sta amoreWhere lies loveDove sta amoreHere lies loveThe ring dove loveIn lyrical delightHear love's hillsongLove's true willsongLove's low..

© Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Bird With Two Right Wings

And now our governmenta bird with two right wingsflies on from zone to zonewhile we go on having our little fun & gamesat each electionas if it..

© Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Driving A Cardboard Automobile Without A License

Driving a cardboard automobile without a license at the turn of the century my father ran into my mother on a fun-ride at..

© Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Recipe For Happiness Khaborovsk Or Anyplace

One grand boulevard with treeswith one grand cafe in sunwith strong black coffee in very small cups.One not necessarily very beautifulman or woman..

© Lawrence Ferlinghetti

The Changing Light

The changing light at San Francisco is none of your East Coast light none of..

© Lawrence Ferlinghetti

An Elegy On The Death Of Kenneth Patchen

A poet is bornA poet diesAnd all that lies betweenis usand the worldAnd the world lies about itmaking as if it had got his messageeven though it is..

© Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Number 20

The pennycandystore beyond the Elis where I firstfell in lovewith unrealityJellybeans glowed in the semi-gloomof that september afternoonA cat upon..

© Lawrence Ferlinghetti

The Great Chinese Dragon

The great Chinese dragon which is the greatest dragon in all theworld and which once upon a time was towed across thePacific by a crew of coolies..

© Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Populist Manifesto No. 1

Poets, come out of your closets,Open your windows, open your doors,You have been holed-up too longin your closed worlds.Come down, come downfrom your..

© Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Underwear

I didn’t get much sleep last nightthinking about underwearHave you ever stopped to considerunderwear in the abstractWhen you really dig into itsome..

© Lawrence Ferlinghetti

A Vast Confusion

Long long I lay in the sandsSounds of trains in the surfin subways of the seaAnd an even greater undersoundof a vast confusion in the universea..

© Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Oh You Gatherer

Oh you gatherer of the fine ash of poetry ash of the too-white flame of poetryConsider those who have burned before..

© Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Baseball Canto

Watching baseball, sitting in the sun, eating popcorn,reading Ezra Pound,and wishing that Juan Marichal would hit a hole right through theAnglo-Saxon..

© Lawrence Ferlinghetti

he Pennycandystore Beyond The El

The pennycandystore beyond the Elis where i firstfell in lovewith unrealityJellybeans glowed in the semi-gloomof that september afternoonA cat upon..

© Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Number 8

It was a face which darkness could killin an instanta face as easily hurtby laughter or light'We think differently at night'she told me oncelying..

© Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Wild Dreams Of A New Beginning

There's a breathless hush on the freeway tonightBeyond the ledges of concreterestaurants fall into dreamswith candlelight couplesLost Alexandria..

© Lawrence Ferlinghetti

The Plough Of Time

Night closed my windows andThe sky became a crystal houseThe crystal windows glowedThe moonshown through themthrough the whole house of crystalA..

© Lawrence Ferlinghetti