A Buddha Sighting A Buddha Sighting
When I was three I saw baby Buddha in an apple tree by the Hudson When we grew up Buddha climbed down from his apple tree And took the New York Central Railroad down the Hudson int…
Sep 7, 2017 / Books & the Arts / Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Trump’s Trojan Horse Trump’s Trojan Horse
Homer didn’t live long enough To tell of Trump’s White House Which is his Trojan horse From which all the President’s men Burst out to destroy democracy And install corporations As…
Jul 13, 2017 / Editorial / Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Ferlinghetti in June Ferlinghetti in June
Writing Across the Landscape collects the poet’s travel diaries—which, he says, “may pass as news stories filed by a reporter from Outer Space.”
Jul 30, 2015 / Feature / Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Lawrence Ferlinghetti Reads ‘The First and the Last of Everything’ Lawrence Ferlinghetti Reads ‘The First and the Last of Everything’
Lawrence Ferlinghetti reads, The First and the Last of Everything. Click here to read the full poem. Recorded Monday, November 7, 2011 at the Fugazi club in San Francisco, California, by Jim McKee, Earwax Productions.
Dec 1, 2011 / Audio / Lawrence Ferlinghetti
The First and the Last of Everything The First and the Last of Everything
The first fine dawn of life on earth The first cry of Man in the first light The first firefly flickering at night The first Noble Savage with the first erection The first song of love and forty cries of despair The first voyage of Vikings westward The first sighting of the New World from the crow’s nest of a Spanish galleon The first Pale Face meeting the first Native American The first Dutch trader in Mannahatta The first settler on the first frontier The first Home Sweet Home so dear The first wagon train westward The first sighting of the Pacific by Lewis & Clark The first cry of “Mark, twain!” on the Mississippi The first desegregation by Huck & Jim on a raft at night The first buffalo-head nickel and the last buffalo The first barbed-wire fence and the last of the open range The last cowboy on the last frontier The first skyscraper in America The first home run hit at Yankee Stadium The first ballpark hot dog with mustard The last War to End All Wars The last Wobbly and the last Catholic Anarchist The last living member of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade The last bohemian in a beret The last homespun politician and the first stolen election The first plane to hit the first Twin Tower The birth of a vast national paranoia The first president to become an international criminal for crimes against humanity making America a terrorist state The dark dawn of American corporate fascism The next-to-last free speech radio The next-to-last independent newspaper raising hell The next-to-last independent bookstore with a mind of its own The next-to-last Lefty looking for Obama Nirvana The first fine day of the Wall Street Occupation to set forth upon this continent a new nation! Click here to listen to Ferlinghetti read this poem.
Nov 30, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Lawrence Ferlinghetti
To the Oracle at Delphi 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 ago, from the dark of ancien...
Sep 20, 2001 / Books & the Arts / Lawrence Ferlinghetti