We live, of course, in a nation addicted to lies. (Hence, Julian Assange is a “terrorist”, Obama a “Socialist”, etc.) Doubtless Bill Knott will be dumped on for this—and he does seem to confuse City Lights publications with New Directions, unless I misread his postscript—but the core of his post is (it seems to me) undeniable. How refreshing to know that someone has the courage to say so.
In the midst of his attack, Knott notes that he continues to read Ferlinghetti “with admiration” and (presumably) Prévert, whose work I quoted here not long ago. Here’s the Ferlingetti translation he mentions:
The Discourse on Peace
by Jacques Prévert, tr. Lawrence Ferlinghetti
.
Near the end of an extremely important discourse
the great man of state stumbling
on a beautiful hollow phrase
falls over it
and undone with gaping mouth
gasping
shows his teeth
and the dental decay of his peaceful reasoning
exposes the nerve of war
the delicate question of money
Well, shit. Talk about a “truth attack”!
And this, which I heard Ferlinghetti read at the University of Northern Colorado, when I was a callow undergraduate, and which brought the entire auditorium to its feet amid cheers and applause:
Salute
To every animal who eats or shoots his own kind
And every hunter with rifles mounted in pickup trucks
And every private marksman or minuteman with telescopic sight
And every redneck in boots with dogs and sawed-off shotguns
And every Peace Officer with dogs trained to track & kill
And every plainclothesman or undercover agent with shoulderholster full of death
And every servant of the people gunning down people or shooting-to-kill fleeing felons
And every Guardia Civil in any country guarding civilians with handcuffs & carbines
And every border guard at no matter what Check Point Charley on no matter which side of which Berlin Wall
Bamboo or Tortilla curtain
And every elite statetrooper highwaypatrollman in custom-tailored ridingpants & plastic crash helmet & shoestring necktie & sixshooter in silver-studded holster
And every prowlcar with riotguns & sirens and every riot-tank with mace & teargas
And every crackpilot with rockets & napalm underwing
And every skypilot blessing bombers at takeoff
And any State Department of any superstate selling guns to both sides
And every Nationalist of no matter what Nation in no matter what world Black Brown or White who kills for his Nation
And every prophet or poet with gun or shiv and any enforcer of spiritual enlightenment with force and any enforcer of the power of any state with Power
And to any and all who kill & kill & kill & kill for Peace
I raise my middle finger
in the only proper salute
And every hunter with rifles mounted in pickup trucks
And every private marksman or minuteman with telescopic sight
And every redneck in boots with dogs and sawed-off shotguns
And every Peace Officer with dogs trained to track & kill
And every plainclothesman or undercover agent with shoulderholster full of death
And every servant of the people gunning down people or shooting-to-kill fleeing felons
And every Guardia Civil in any country guarding civilians with handcuffs & carbines
And every border guard at no matter what Check Point Charley on no matter which side of which Berlin Wall
Bamboo or Tortilla curtain
And every elite statetrooper highwaypatrollman in custom-tailored ridingpants & plastic crash helmet & shoestring necktie & sixshooter in silver-studded holster
And every prowlcar with riotguns & sirens and every riot-tank with mace & teargas
And every crackpilot with rockets & napalm underwing
And every skypilot blessing bombers at takeoff
And any State Department of any superstate selling guns to both sides
And every Nationalist of no matter what Nation in no matter what world Black Brown or White who kills for his Nation
And every prophet or poet with gun or shiv and any enforcer of spiritual enlightenment with force and any enforcer of the power of any state with Power
And to any and all who kill & kill & kill & kill for Peace
I raise my middle finger
in the only proper salute
I join Bill Knott in asking the (post) avant-garde: show us any poet in your “camp” (if I may adopt the tribalist mentality for a moment) whose poetry’s wit and truth and social importance compares with either Prévert, or Ferlingetti, or Parra, or Enzensberger, any of the other political poets Knott cites in his post.
Gary, I happen to enjoy comments, unless they're just stupid; I view them as a public conversation. But I understand why Knott and others have disable that function, because usually there isn't time to engage with commentators in a meaningful way. And comments can turn one's blog into a battleground over issues that have more to do with the commentators' personal ax-grinding than
If Mr. Knott is anything like me, the last thing he needs or wants is a "culture of piss-ants" imposing on his personal life and privacy with silly, pointless e-mails.
gee<br /><br />Mr. Arrogaunt & self-rightchuus Knott has always been available via an email<br /><br />for those who don't subscribe to blogequalsdemocracy…<br /><br />as it is<br />we got ourselves a culture of piss-ants streaming towards Honey Pot & and 60 % owned by Rupert Murdoch<br />& his Pimps and Whores..<br /> just like our two-party system
Mr. Knott has done himself a great disservice, perhaps even defeated his own objectives, by no longer allowing comments on his blog. In so doing he has not only denied himself a lot of fun and feedback (and popularity) but has also joined the ranks of the arrogant and self-righteous, those very people whom, I thought, he objected to.<br /><br />Go figure.
Lyle, the Ferlinghetti poem is in <i>Open Eye, Open Heart</i> (1973).<br /><br />And Señor Knott—Duncan at City Lights? By Dog you're right! I think, in those days, F. must have liked Duncan's work. RD <i>was</i> an old-line anarchist. And Levertov was active in left-wing circles. Maybe F. was supporting their poetry to support their politics….<br /><br />And Ed—your comment needs to be
Nice poems. I especially like the Ferlinghetti one.<br /><br />Do you happen to recall, or have handy, which of his books it's in? I'd like to go dig it up and spend more time with it.
Fine post by bill knott, indeed, thanks Joe.
Ed, you rascal, I love your comment! You nailed it pretty good!
interesting that the Greeks built their most sacred buildings in order to have a place to worship & have sex with their 10,000 Goddesses<br /><br /><br />we build replications of those buildings call them banks & in them worship Money & fuck everybody !<br /><br /><br />me-thinks Ovid's Amores got mis-translated some time between 300 A.D and the Right now political-religious
thanks for your post here— most welcome to see—<br /><br />among the earliest Pocket Poet books<br />published by Ferlinghetti<br /><br />was a Selected Duncan<br /><br />and Levertov's first or second collection—<br /><br />New D picked them up later.<br /><br />…