An answer to "the challenge of apocalyptic times..."

As noted in today's Star Tribune:

Beat poet, publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti dies at 101

We grew up on and with the Beat Poets: Kerouac, Ginsberg, McClure and others. The  San Francisco Chronicle, as one would expect, has much more complete coverage of Ferlinghett's remarkable life and talent. The closest we've been able to come to a connection between Minnesota and Ferlinghetti, other than folks like us who have treasured his poetry and his life, is that there was an exhibition of Ferlinghetti's paintings at a gallery on Minnesota Street in San Francisco. If you haven't yet read any of his poetry, you might want to begin with Poetry As Insurgent Art, here's a sample.

Poetry as Insurgent Art [I am signaling you through the flames]

Lawrence Ferlinghetti - 1919-2021

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....

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