Happy 98th Birthday, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, March 24,

[elleng]

who decades ago wrote:

“Pity the nation whose people are sheep,
and whose shepherds mislead them.
Pity the nation whose leaders are liars, whose sages are silenced,
and whose bigots haunt the airwaves.
Pity the nation that raises not its voice,
except to praise conquerors and acclaim the bully as hero
and aims to rule the world with force and by torture.
Pity the nation that knows no other language but its own
and no other culture but its own.
Pity the nation whose breath is money
and sleeps the sleep of the too well fed.
Pity the nation — oh, pity the people who allow their rights to erode
and their freedoms to be washed away.
My country, tears of thee, sweet land of liberty.”
― Lawrence Ferlinghetti

[nolabear]

1. Thanks. Boy has he seen some things.

[ghostsinthemachine]

2. One of the bestest

I have a signed copy of one of his books around here. First edition too. Met him many times browsing the aisles of City Lights.

[KittyWampus]

3. I've an original copy of "A Coney Island of the Mind" which I found in a used bookstore.

I credit that book, in part, for my never becoming cynical.

His work and Ginsberg's made me FEEL what art could do and say.

And that energy needs a rebirth right now.

People are creative beings and I see so many people spending their lives staring into their smart phones.

[burrowowl]

4. YES! Happy Birthday!

[byronius]

5. What a lion. What an artist. Damn. I bow to this man.

Huge creative force.

[Warren DeMontague]

6. A true "guardian and protector of the mind" as Dylan would put it- and 1st Amedment HERO

Important to honor such types in days like these when misguided censorship-minded authoritarians would try and tell others what they can read, watch, say, draw, write, publish, film, or think.