Ferlinghetti (RIP)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR

Ferlinghetti

 

“If you would be a poet,

create works capable of answering

the challenge of apocalyptic times.”

 

-- Poetry as Insurgent Art

 

He fought the endless battle

For justice and equality

For peace and integrity

For art and creativity

With passion through poetry

 

He asked us to Speak Out

From our hearts to change minds

With our arts and our many voices

He was strong but always kind

 

He knew it was a battle

That would not end

Not in his lifetime or mine

He knew it was the fight

That mattered most

The constant state of struggle

That keeps the heart pumping

That keeps the ball rolling

That keeps the march marching

That in the end tells the story

Of humankind

 

He was the keeper of the beat

Holder of the sacred torch

Bearer of the golden flame

An institution of the City

Protector of the Lights

The banner of a generation

Passed through his hands

And settled in his soul

 

(Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Poet Extraordinaire,

Founder of City Lights; born in Bronxville NY,

March 24, 1919, died SF, February 22, 2021.)