Mr. Ferlinghetti

Back in the Dark Ages, which is what I call the 1950's, I spent a couple of years fruitlessly at a college in North Dakota.

It was the era of the Beats and I picked up a thin book of poetry by Lawrence Ferlinghetti one day and became hooked.

I don't have my original copy but I picked up another one a few years ago.

This book of whimsy and the novel "On The Road" by Jack Kerouac became my bibles in those few years.

Incidentally, Ferlinghetti once said "Don't call me a Beat poet.  I was never a Beat poet."

The poet had moved to San Francisco in 1950 and opened City Lights Bookstore, which is still a mecca in the city.

He published "Howl", a poem by Allen Ginsberg that led to him being arrested on obscenity laws, which led to a lengthy trial and his eventual acquittal.

Today is his 100th birthday and I read that he is largely blind. 

But the mayor has proclaimed it "Lawrence Ferlinghetti Day" in San Francisco.

I was just leafing through my book of his poetry and came across one that begins with "The world is a beautiful place to be born into . . ." and concludes with ". . . but then right in the middle of it comes the smiling mortician."

Have a great day, Birthday Boy.