酷我-北美枫

[ericcoliu]

The Poetic Lens

Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s Vision of Poetry: Poetry As Insurgent Art

What is the "use" of poetry? Does or can poetry matter to Everyman? More than 50 years ago, American poet William Carlos Williams answered these questions in his then-famous lines: "It is difficult / to get the news from poems / yet men die miserably every day / for lack / of what is found there." His lines claim that poetry really matter to the health of the soul.

Around the same time he wrote the above lines, one of his young fellow poets, Lawrence Ferlinghetti started his writing career and thought hard about and dug deep into the same set of questions. Now in Poetry As Insurgent Art, he offers, in prose, his primer of what poetry is, could be, and should be. Succinct and inspiring, his new book is a collection of inspirational comments, aphorisms, and exhortations about the nature and purpose of poetry. He has been revising this book continually since first releasing a slim version in 1975. After 30 years of revisions and additions, some of his claims may not strike informed readers as fresh, such as his opening statement, "The state of the world calls out for poetry to save it.” For him, poetry's "use" extends far beyond the personal into the political. On the other hand, a lot of them are couched in up-to-date poetic dialect, such as “Poems are e-mails from the unknown beyond cyberspace."

The book consists of five parts: 'Poetry as Insurgent Art,' in which he argues that "Poetry can save the world by transforming consciousness," and 'What Is Poetry,' in which he offers his musings in one- and two-sentence statements, are followed by the poems 'Populist Manifesto #1' and 'Populist Manifesto #2' and sealed with the essay entitled 'Modern Poetry Is Prose,' which encourages young writers to discover the "dark spirit of earth and blood."

In Poetry as Insurgent Art, Ferlinghetti offers poetry as an instrument of rebellion, as a means to invent a new language which can engage the reader in the socio-political context in order to explore a new truth. “I am signalling you through the flames,” he writes persistently and encouragingly. “ … You are Whitman, you are Poe … you are Emily Dickinson and Edna St. Vincent Millay … .” Of poetry itself, he says, “Poetry is the ultimate inner refuge” and “it is Helen’s straw hair in sunlight.”

As Steve Heilig notes, "This is a tall order for poetry, to be sure. But the six or seven (mostly) one-liners on each of the 30 pages are testament to Ferlinghetti's enduring vision and commitment. " The book begins with the following emotionally persuasive passages:

"I am signalling you through the flames. The North Pole is not where it used to be. Manifest Destiny is no longer manifest. Civilization self-destructs. The goddess Nemesis is knocking at the door…

What are poets for in such an age? What is the use of poetry? If you would be a poet, create works capable of answering the challenge of Apocalyptic times, even if this means sounding apocalyptic. You have to decide if bird cries are cries of ecstasy or cries of despair, by which you will know if you are a tragic or a lyric poet. Conceive of love beyond .. Be subversive, constantly questioning reality and the status quo. Strive to change the world in such a way that there’s no further need to be a dissident. Read between the lives, and write between the lines. Be committed to something outside yourself. Be passionate about it. But don’t destroy the world, unless you have something better to replace it.

If you would snatch fame from the flames, where is your burning bow, where are your arrows of desire, where your wit on fire?

The master class starts wars. The lower classes fight it. Governments lie. The voice of the government is often not the voice of the people.

Speak up, act out! Silence is complicity. Be the gadfly of the state and also its firefly. And if you have two loaves of bread, do as the Greeks did: sell one with the coin of the realm, and with the coin of the realm buy sunflowers.

Wake up! The world’s on fire!”

I end my short introduction to his new book on poetry with Dionne Brand’s vision of poetry: “Poetry is here, just here. Something wrestling with how we live.” In my view, their vison of poetry becomes fused together.
_________________
Time is nothing but a disquiet of the soul

[[ericcoliu]]

The Poetic Lens

Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s Vision of Poetry: Poetry As Insurgent Art

What is the "use" of poetry? Does or can poetry matter to Everyman? More than 50 years ago, American poet William Carlos Williams answered these questions in his then-famous lines: "It is difficult / to get the news from poems / yet men die miserably every day / for lack / of what is found there." His lines claim that poetry really matter to the health of the soul.

Around the same time he wrote the above lines, one of his young fellow poets, Lawrence Ferlinghetti started his writing career and thought hard about and dug deep into the same set of questions. Now in Poetry As Insurgent Art, he offers, in prose, his primer of what poetry is, could be, and should be. Succinct and inspiring, his new book is a collection of inspirational comments, aphorisms, and exhortations about the nature and purpose of poetry. He has been revising this book continually since first releasing a slim version in 1975. After 30 years of revisions and additions, some of his claims may not strike informed readers as fresh, such as his opening statement, "The state of the world calls out for poetry to save it.” For him, poetry's "use" extends far beyond the personal into the political. On the other hand, a lot of them are couched in up-to-date poetic dialect, such as “Poems are e-mails from the unknown beyond cyberspace."

The book consists of five parts: 'Poetry as Insurgent Art,' in which he argues that "Poetry can save the world by transforming consciousness," and 'What Is Poetry,' in which he offers his musings in one- and two-sentence statements, are followed by the poems 'Populist Manifesto #1' and 'Populist Manifesto #2' and sealed with the essay entitled 'Modern Poetry Is Prose,' which encourages young writers to discover the "dark spirit of earth and blood."

In Poetry as Insurgent Art, Ferlinghetti offers poetry as an instrument of rebellion, as a means to invent a new language which can engage the reader in the socio-political context in order to explore a new truth. “I am signalling you through the flames,” he writes persistently and encouragingly. “ … You are Whitman, you are Poe … you are Emily Dickinson and Edna St. Vincent Millay … .” Of poetry itself, he says, “Poetry is the ultimate inner refuge” and “it is Helen’s straw hair in sunlight.”

As Steve Heilig notes, "This is a tall order for poetry, to be sure. But the six or seven (mostly) one-liners on each of the 30 pages are testament to Ferlinghetti's enduring vision and commitment. " The book begins with the following emotionally persuasive passages:

"I am signalling you through the flames. The North Pole is not where it used to be. Manifest Destiny is no longer manifest. Civilization self-destructs. The goddess Nemesis is knocking at the door…

What are poets for in such an age? What is the use of poetry? If you would be a poet, create works capable of answering the challenge of Apocalyptic times, even if this means sounding apocalyptic. You have to decide if bird cries are cries of ecstasy or cries of despair, by which you will know if you are a tragic or a lyric poet. Conceive of love beyond .. Be subversive, constantly questioning reality and the status quo. Strive to change the world in such a way that there’s no further need to be a dissident. Read between the lives, and write between the lines. Be committed to something outside yourself. Be passionate about it. But don’t destroy the world, unless you have something better to replace it.

If you would snatch fame from the flames, where is your burning bow, where are your arrows of desire, where your wit on fire?

The master class starts wars. The lower classes fight it. Governments lie. The voice of the government is often not the voice of the people.

Speak up, act out! Silence is complicity. Be the gadfly of the state and also its firefly. And if you have two loaves of bread, do as the Greeks did: sell one with the coin of the realm, and with the coin of the realm buy sunflowers.

Wake up! The world’s on fire!”

I end my short introduction to his new book on poetry with Dionne Brand’s vision of poetry: “Poetry is here, just here. Something wrestling with how we live.” In my view, their vison of poetry becomes fused together.
_________________
Time is nothing but a disquiet of the soul

[dundas]

[[dundas]]

[dundas]

[[dundas]]

[ericcoliu]

Thanks for the comment.

What follows are some of his inspirational comments on poetry:

Be a songbird, not a parrot.

Be also a rooster, waking up the world.

You are only as great as your ear. Too bad if it is tin.

Poetry is the last lighthouse in rising seas.

Your poems must be more than want ads for broken hearts.

Question "God" and his buddies on earth.

Reinvent the idea of truth.

Reinvent the idea of beauty.

Listen to the lisp of leaves and the ripple of rain.

If you would be a poet, invent a new language that anyone could understand.

If you would be a poet, speak new truths that the world can't deny.

Through art create an order out of the chaos of living.
_________________
Time is nothing but a disquiet of the soul

[[ericcoliu]]

Thanks for the comment.

What follows are some of his inspirational comments on poetry:

Be a songbird, not a parrot.

Be also a rooster, waking up the world.

You are only as great as your ear. Too bad if it is tin.

Poetry is the last lighthouse in rising seas.

Your poems must be more than want ads for broken hearts.

Question "God" and his buddies on earth.

Reinvent the idea of truth.

Reinvent the idea of beauty.

Listen to the lisp of leaves and the ripple of rain.

If you would be a poet, invent a new language that anyone could understand.

If you would be a poet, speak new truths that the world can't deny.

Through art create an order out of the chaos of living.
_________________
Time is nothing but a disquiet of the soul

[dundas]

[[dundas]]

[ericcoliu]

Thanks for your enthusiastic response to my introduction to his latest book on poetry.

FYI,

In an interview with Democracy Now's host Amy Goodman, which aired on December 24, 2007, on the 50th Anniversary of Jack Kerouac’s On The Road, Allen Ginsberg’s Howl and Poetry As Insurgent Art, he read his latest poem entitled Pity the Nation, after Khalil Gibran.

Pity the nation whose people are sheep,
and whose shepherds mislead them.
Pity the nation whose leaders are liars, whose sages are silenced,
and whose bigots haunt the airwaves.
Pity the nation that raises not its voice,
except to praise conquerors and acclaim the bully as hero
and aims to rule the world with force and by torture.
Pity the nation that knows no other language but its own
and no other culture but its own.
Pity the nation whose breath is money
and sleeps the sleep of the too well fed.
Pity the nation—oh, pity the people who allow their rights to erode
and their freedoms to be washed away.
My country, tears of thee, sweet land of liberty.
_________________
Time is nothing but a disquiet of the soul

[[ericcoliu]]

Thanks for your enthusiastic response to my introduction to his latest book on poetry.

FYI,

In an interview with Democracy Now's host Amy Goodman, which aired on December 24, 2007, on the 50th Anniversary of Jack Kerouac’s On The Road, Allen Ginsberg’s Howl and Poetry As Insurgent Art, he read his latest poem entitled Pity the Nation, after Khalil Gibran.

Pity the nation whose people are sheep,
and whose shepherds mislead them.
Pity the nation whose leaders are liars, whose sages are silenced,
and whose bigots haunt the airwaves.
Pity the nation that raises not its voice,
except to praise conquerors and acclaim the bully as hero
and aims to rule the world with force and by torture.
Pity the nation that knows no other language but its own
and no other culture but its own.
Pity the nation whose breath is money
and sleeps the sleep of the too well fed.
Pity the nation—oh, pity the people who allow their rights to erode
and their freedoms to be washed away.
My country, tears of thee, sweet land of liberty.
_________________
Time is nothing but a disquiet of the soul

[温暖的水獸]

[[温暖的水獸]]

[ericcoliu]

[[ericcoliu]]