No. 20, from A Coney Island of the Mind (New York: New Directions, 1958).
The poet and publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti has died at the age of 101. The New York Times has an obituary with a 2007 video feature, “The Last Word.” The San Francisco Chronicle has an obituary with a large slideshow.
Tuesday, February 23, 2021
Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1919–2021)
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comments: 4
For those of us of a certain age, A Coney Island of the Mind was a stunning and significant event. It showed us that poetry didn't always look like the poetry we were studying in school, and it showed us what poetry could be. (I probably encountered it around 1963 or 4, and carried it around with me)
Yes, he’d open the door to new possibilities. What you say makes me think of finding Gregory Corso’s “Marriage” in my freshman-class poetry anthology. What?!
I recall A Coney Island of the Mind being part of my high school curriculum. I don't have that volume any more, but did pick up a replacement decades later at City Lights that still has their bookmark inside. I was thrilled to glimpse Mr. Ferlinghetti exiting City Lights in 2015. He did several things well. The idea of a bookseller going to trial and being threatened with imprisonment is astounding, and he stood by his principles.
It’s startling to realize that the Howl trial wasn’t all that long ago. Imagine — undercover cops buying a book of poetry.
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