Poetry as Insurgent Art, 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 means sounding 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.

If you would be a poet, write living newspapers. Be a reporter from outer space, filing dispatches to some supreme managing editor who believes in full disclosure and has a low tolerance for bullshit.

……….

If you would call yourself a poet, don’t just sit there. Poetry is not a sedentary occupation, not just “take your seat” practice. Stand up and let them have it.

……….

You must decide if bird cries are cries of ecstasy or cries of despair, by which you will know if you are tragic or a lyric poet.

If you would be a poet, discover a new way for mortals to inhabit the earth.

If you would be a poet, invent a new language anyone can understand.

If you would be a poet, speak new truths that the world can’t deny.

If you would be a great poet, strive to transcribe the consciousness of the race.

Through art, create order out of the chaos of living.

Make it new news.

Write beyond time.

Reinvent the idea of truth.

Reinvent the idea of beauty.

In the first light, wax poetic. In the night, wax tragic.

Listen to the lisp of leaves and the ripple of rain.

Put your ear to the ground and hear the turning of the earth, the surge of the sea, and the laments of dying animals.

Conceive of love beyond sex.

Question everything and everyone, including Socrates, who questioned everything.

Question “God” and his buddies on earth.

Be subversive, constantly questioning reality and statues quo.

Strive to change the world in such a way that there’s no further need to be a dissident.

Hip Hop and Rap your way to liberation.

Try being a singing animal turned pimp for a pacifist king.

Read between the lives and write between the lines.

[Pink Floyd: Is there anybody out there?]