Tuesday, February 22, 2022

Remembering Lawrence Ferlinghetti

                             


Poet and book publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti died one year ago today on February 22, 2021 at the age of 101 at his Bay Area home. We had wished him a happy 101st on March 24, 2020 (click HERE). Ferlinghetti appeared as Lorenzo Monsanto in Jack Kerouac's Big Sur, the devastatingly honest account of Jack's mental health decline at the hands of alcohol and his futile effort to forestall the same at Ferlinghetti's Big Sur cabin near the Bixby Canyon Bridge.

I've never see Ferlinghetti in person, although I've been to his bookstore, City Lights, in San Francisco. You can read about his life in this L.A. Times obit (click HERE).

It would do him a great honor if you read some of his poetry today, or something he published at great personal and professional risk, like Allen Ginsberg's "Howl."

RIP, Mr. Ferlinghetti.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

If I remember correctly, I found your blog on the day Lawrence Ferlinghetti died. I was searching for things online about him and found you. We will remember him always.

Rick Dale, author of The Beat Handbook said...

That sounds correct to me, Robin. Thanks for the reminder!