Today, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, fine poet, fearless publisher of Alan Ginsburg’s Beat classic, “Howl,” and co-founder of San Francisco’s famed City Lights Bookstore turns 100 years old. Happy Birthday!!
I took this image (in the point-and-shoot and film camera days) from the doorway of City Lights on a pilgrimage and pleasure tour Tim and I made there in 1997. Today, I am just delighted to have read this poem by Ferlinghetti on Poem-A-Day, “The Changing Light,” written when he was eighty years old. I also enjoyed the voice clip of him reading this poem of love of place–a place he and others turned into a mecca of inclusivity and poetry.
I hope your day combines whimsy and lasting value in your own particular way–even if grey skies temporarily flatten you (as they often do me.)
Oh, definitely! I am waaaaay overdue for a trip back there.
This is a wonderful post, Leslie. I’ve read a number of articles and posts about Ferlinghetti’s centennial and City Light Books – amazing. But to be able to hear him read his poem was a special treat. And your photos just added to the sense of fun and wonder I imagine City Lights holds inside its walls! Thanks for this one especially!
Thank you!
Great post, Leslie! Thank you.
Hi David,
What a great story! Thanks for sharing in (just about) real time. Leslie
This morning I was having coffee in my usual place in Ann Arbor, MI. I was sitting with “Hollywood”, an old musician I see frequently. I was reading a poem from Rattle Magazine on my computer. Hollywood asked what I was reading. I told him it was a poem about Lawerence Ferlinghetti’s hundreth birthday. “Larry’s still alive?” Hollywood remarked. “I used to have coffee with him every morning at Cafe Trieste across from City Lights Bookstore. He was a nice guy, but I didn’t know he was famous. He was just a guy who owned a book store.”