At 99, Lawrence Ferlinghetti's Voice Has Not Softened

Lawrence Ferlinghetti's voice is "vital as ever," says John McMurtrie in a piece about the poet, who is about to turn 99, at the San Francisco Chronicle. "'A Coney Island of the Mind' came out in the Eisenhower era, yet much of it — accessible, politically engaged, humorous and impassioned verse that has spoken to generations — remains embedded in Ferlinghetti’s memory. The poet eagerly volunteers to recite some of its lines, his scratchy baritone dramatically quiet at times and booming at others." More:

For more recent poems that he doesn’t know by heart, he reads from books, using a desktop electronic magnifier that helps offset his poor eyesight.

Other than trouble reading, and being a bit hard of hearing, Ferlinghetti seems remarkably healthy. He looks sharp, too, wearing a white box-print dress shirt, deep-blue sweater and round-rimmed tortoiseshell glasses. A stud in his right earlobe matches the blue of his eyes, and his shaggy white beard accentuates the air of a happily retired fisherman — fitting for someone who, before he served in the Navy during World War II, spent time as a lobsterman in Maine.

Fame first came to Ferlinghetti when he and City Lights clerk Shigeyoshi Murao were arrested and put on trial in 1957 for publishing Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl.” In a landmark decision, Judge Clayton W. Horn ruled that the Beat poet’s work was not obscene.

Since then, Ferlinghetti’s activist voice has not softened. When speaking about President Trump, he is unequivocal: “Trump is an evil man,” he says. “He’s so dangerous. I think you’ve got to take this man seriously. I think he’s out to destroy democracy.”

Read it all at the SF Chronicle.