POETRY AS PROPHECY

	October 26, 2001
	The poetry of Lawrence Ferlinghetti: "Are There Not Still Fireflies."

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: In good times and bad, San Franciscans are accustomed to hearing from the poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti. For a half century, he has walked the streets of his beloved North Beach neighborhood and produced volumes of verse about matters mundane and monumental. He was the city's first official poet laureate and his bookstore, City Lights, was recently declared a San Francisco landmark. Though he's known now as a peace activist, he joined the Navy in World War II and became commander of a sub-chaser. He witnessed the devastation of Nagasaki just after the atomic bomb was dropped. Last week at a North Beach theater, Ferlinghetti read his poetry to a sold-out audience. He said art and poetry will be classified from now on as B.S. and A.S.-- Before and after September 11. He also spoke of poetry as prophecy. LAWRENCE FERLINGHETTI: Here's another attempt at prophesy before September 11. It's kind of based on the Greek poet, Cavafy. "Are there not still fireflies Are there not still four-leaf clovers Is not our land still beautiful our fields not full of armed enemies our cities never bombed by foreign invaders never occupied by iron armies speaking iron tongues Are not our warriors still valiant ready to defend us Are not our senators still wearing fine togas Are we not still a great people in the greatest country in all the world Is this not still a free country Are not our fields still ours our gardens still full of flowers our ships with full cargoes Why then do some still fear the barbarians coming coming coming in their huddled masses (What is that sound that fills the ear drumming drumming?) Is not Rome still Rome Is not Los Angeles still Los Angeles Are these not the last days of the Roman Empire Is not beauty still beauty And truth still truth Are there not still poets Are there not still lovers Are there not still mothers sisters and brothers Is there not still a full moon once a month Are there not still fireflies Are there not still stars at night Can we not still see them in bowl of night signalling to us our manifest destiny?" (Applause)