Sunday, May 10, 2009

It's National Poetry Month

This one's for Dad and for Grisly Dan, our old drinking buddy at The Pub in Lake Park, Minnesota.
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Poetry as Insurgent Art [I am signaling you through the flames]
by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

I am signaling you through the flames.
The North Pole is not where it used to be.
Manifest Destiny is no longer manifest.
Civilization self-destructs.
Nemesis is knocking at the door.
What are poets for, in such an age?
What is the use of poetry?
The state of the world calls out for poetry to save it.
If you would be a poet, create works capable of answering the challenge of apocalyptic times, even if this meaning sounds apocalyptic.
You are Whitman, you are Poe, you are Mark Twain, you are Emily Dickinson and Edna St. Vincent Millay, you are Neruda and Mayakovsky and Pasolini, you are an American or a non-American, you can conquer the conquerors with words....

1 comment:

Marie Rayner said...

Great poem Allison. I used to write lots of poetry when I was younger. DO you write poetry? I am betting you would be really good at it.