Literature Name Check:Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Saw a little piece on Ferlinghetti getting an award from the National Book Foundation in the Washington Post today. Actually it was more about Norman Mailer, but here's what it said about the founder of City Lights Bookstore and publisher of Howl:

Lawrence Ferlinghetti will also be honored. The 86-year-old poet will receive
the first Literarian Award, which recognizes "individuals whose life's work has
enhanced the literary world as a whole." Foundation director Harold Augenbraum
said: "He has always pushed the edges of the literary envelope and has been
unwavering in his commitment to literature."

Without Ferlinghetti it may be that the Beat Generation wouldn't have been nearly so influential (you may debate later on whether or not that's a good thing); just as the Modernists in the generation before logrolled each other through their editorial positions, Ferlinghetti provided a publishing house and a cultural center in City Lights.

My favorite Ferlinghetti poem, and one I always teach when I teach 20th Century American Lit, is "I Am Waiting." The link will give you full text of the poem, but here's a little snip:

and I am waiting
for a reconstructed Mayflower
to reach America
with its picture story and tv rights
sold in advance to the natives
and I am waiting
for the lost music to sound again
in the Lost Continent
in a new rebirth of wonder