R.I.P. Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

Jack Kerouac & Lawrence Ferlinghetti

I am very sorry to hear that Lawrence Ferlinghetti , poet & publisher has passed away aged 101. I think it is quite touching that he has died on the 200th anniversary of John Keats. As a tribute to him I thought I would repeat this little piece I wrote about him for his 100th birthday in 2019.........

The thing I want to say today is to wish a belated happy 100^th birthday to Lawrence Ferlinghetti who reached that remarkable milestone yesterday. He was born on March 24^th, 1919 in New York. He was a poet first and foremost. You may recall him reciting one of his poems in the film of The Last Waltz. I have always liked his poems because they are very easy to understand, not high-brow stuff at all. With some so-called great poets you need a master’s degree in English literature to even begin to understand what they are talking about. Lawrence believes that poetry should be for the people and accessible. There is also a lot of humour in his work which I like.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti & Allen Ginsberg.

He also has a reputation as a painter, but I don’t feel qualified to talk about that aspect of his career. One of the main things I like about him is his friendship with the Beat Generation writers, especially Jack Kerouac. Lawrence was instrumental in the creation of Jack Kerouac Alley in San Francisco. Jack referred to him as Lorenzo Monsanto in his book Big Sur.  He created City Lights Bookshop which is one of the worlds most famous bookshops. City Lights also published many authors that nobody else would touch. He was even arrested for publishing Howl by Allen Ginsberg.

Lawrence at Jack Kerouac's grave.

My Van Morrison fan buddies will know there are links between Lawrence and Van. Lawrence is mentioned in a recent song by Van called In Tiburon and City Lights Books also were the American publishers for Van’s book of lyrics called Lit Up Inside.

Van Morrison at City Lights Bookshop.