Poetry As Insurgent Art

After a lifetime, this (r)evolutionary little book is still
a work-in-progress, the poet's ars poetica, to which at 88
he is constantly adding.

From the groundbreaking (and bestselling) A Coney Island
of the Mind in 1958 to the "personal epic" of Americus,
Book I in 2003, Lawrence Ferlinghetti has, in more than
thirty books, been the poetic conscience of America.
Now in Poetry As Insurgent Art, he offers, in prose,
his primer of what poetry is, could be, should be.
The result is by turns tender and furious, personal
and political. If you are a reader of poetry, find
out what is missing from the usual fare you are
served; if you are a poet, read at your own risk
—you will never again look at your role in the
same way.

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 self-destructs.

Nemesis is knocking at the door.

What are poets for, in such an age?
What is the use of poetry?

The state of the world calls out for poetry
to save it.

If you would be a poet, create works capable
of answering the challenge of apocalyptic times,
even if this meaning sounds apocalyptic.

You are Whitman, you are Poe, you are Mark Twain,
you are Emily Dickinson and Edna St. Vincent Millay,
you are Neruda and Mayakovsky and Pasolini,
you are an American or a non-American, you
can conquer the conquerors with words....


Lawrence Ferlinghetti