Lawrence Ferlinghetti, author of A Coney Island of the Mind, Love in the Days of Rage, and Pictures of the Gone World, died at age 101. He identified as a philosophical anarchist and was part of the beat movement, including Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. He co-founded City Lights Booksellers & Publishers in San Francisco. He was also a fine artist who painted for many years.
He gained notoriety when he published Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl,” and was indicted for selling obscene material. This led to a famous censorship case, the People v. Ferlinghetti, that forwarded the cause of stopping convictions for selling books. The failed attempt at prosecuting him led him to joke that “the police took over the advertising account and did a much better job.”
He was a rebellious poet, a courageous publisher, and bookseller who would not be intimidated about selling books. He was a major literary figure and force who will be missed.
My new book of poems, Touch My Head Softly, is just out from Finishing Line Press. Check it out:
Have you ever seen a door and wondered what is on the other side?
The idea that you can create by opening a door goes back centuries. A note was found
in a Latin grammar from the monastery of St. Gall in Switzerland in approximately 848
that describes an Irish scribe going outside and writing a poem under trees.
You could open a heart door that would enable you to write about things that you love or your favorite things. The door could be an observation door where you record things you carefully observe. A memory door could lead you to memories, good or bad, that you have saved away in the back of your mind. A wonder door could lead you to things you question, or wonder about. A political door could lead you to write about your concerns in the world.
With the pandemic, the world is in lockdown and there are many closed doors.
We all long for the day with those doors will be open again and life will return to normal.
While we are on lockdown, our minds can wander and explore our thoughts, our wants and our imagination.
My new book, Touch My Head Softly, is now out from Finishing Line Press:
Have you ever seen a door and wondered what is on the other side?
The idea that you can create by opening a door goes back centuries. A note was found
in a Latin grammar from the monastery of St. Gall in Switzerland in approximately 848
that describes an Irish scribe going outside and writing a poem under trees.
You could open a heart door that would enable you to write about things that you love or your favorite things. The door could be an observation door where you record things you carefully observe. A memory door could lead you to memories, good or bad, that you have saved away in the back of your mind. A wonder door could lead you to things you question, or wonder about. A political door could lead you to write about your concerns in the world.
With the pandemic, the world is in lockdown and there are many closed doors.
We all long for the day with those doors will be open again and life will return to normal.
While we are on lockdown, our minds can wander and explore our thoughts, our wants and our imagination.
My new book, Touch My Head Softly, is now out from Finishing Line Press:
Straw Dog Writers Guild, the largest group of writers in the Pioneer Valley, has featured my new book, Touch My Head Softly, on their Facebook Page. Take a look:
For any of you who have practiced Elbow’s freewriting technique, “speaking onto the page,” is it a useful method? Whenever I get stuck, I do this. I’ve done it in writing groups, speaking into a recorder, or just reading aloud for myself. It seldom fails to produce some piece of writing. The writing may not be my best, or may wind up unused, but it’s a way of getting started and perhaps generating something that eventually will be used.
Elbow also recommends this for editing, for writing that winds up ‘correct.’ You can do this while keeping those virtues of natural speech, and getting rid of what’s not suitable for the genre you’re writing in. This can also add a new infusion to your old writing, by speaking it onto the page, reading it out loud, and hearing what sounds easy. Sometimes when you hear it, it just sounds different than when you read it. I used this technique in developing my new collection of poetry, Touch My Head Softly.
This is the link to my new collection at Finishing Line Press:
I don’t know about you but I have a new book coming out from Finishing Line Press, Touch My Head Softly, and I have been doing several zoom readings.
If you are like me, and used to giving in-person readings, the zoom reading is different and has it’s advantages and disadvantages.
You have a larger potential audience, as people don’t have to travel to get to you and can “zoom-in” from all over the world.
However, I find it’s tricky to keep facial and eye contact with so many little screen faces. I did a webinar recently, and was unable to see my audience at all.
To try to overcome this, I try reading to a live person before and/or a live practice session on zoom with another person. Then I ask for feedback. You alsohave the advantage of screen sharing with zoom. With screen share you have the advantage of offering a visual to accompany your words, but again the down-side is that you cannot see your audience at all.
If you’re interested in attending my next zoom meeting, register at:
