Sunday Poetry - Lawrence Ferlinghetti

It's amazing how poets whose work I'd enjoy find me. Yes, I've already stated it in my Kenneth Koch post, yet I still can't get over the fact. It's like some great puzzle with the pieces falling into place. Maybe, I should even put it into some kind of visual form. A huge poster on my bedroom wall, it'd certainly make an interesting map! Who knows?

I discovered Lawrence Ferlinghetti via the Random House Facebook page. It's his birthday. Seeing his photo, he reminded me of both Walt Whitman and Ernest Hemingway. It turns out he enjoyed reading both. He even included the former in his poem, Poetry as Insurgent Art that I read for this week's challenge. And also, the opening line "I am signaling you through the flames." sounds very Whitmanesque to my ears.

Source

But he was also the publisher of William Carlos Williams, an odd favourite, whose poetry ended up being the focus and theme of my dissertation.

Tell me, your heart does not beat faster reading these lines:

"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...."

Do you enjoy American poetry? Are you familiar with the poetry of WCW? What kind of poems do you like? Let me know in the Comments below. (Mind you, I set all comments to moderate, so it may take a while to appear.)

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.... - See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20643#sthash.8FP0fdm3.dpuf