Poem by Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

Cafe Society
1

The following is from MSNBC’s “The Juice” today, 3/11/03.
I thought it good and relevant.

Poem by Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

   SPEAK OUT!
   
   And a vast paranoia sweeps across the land
   And America turns the attack on its Twin Towers
   Into the beginning of the Third World War
   The war with the Third World
   
   And the terrorists in Washington
   Are shipping out the young men
   To the killing fields again
   
   And no one speaks
   
   And they are rousting out
   All the ones with turbans
   And they are flushing out
   All the strange immigrants
   
   And they are shipping all the young men
   To the killing fields again
   
   And no one speaks
   
   And when they come to round up
   All the great writers and poets and painters 
   The National Endowment of the Arts of Complacency
   Will not speak
   
   While all the young men 
   Will be killing all the young men
   In the killing fields again
   
   So now is the time for you to speak 
   All you lovers of liberty
   All you lovers of the pursuit of happiness 
   All you lovers and sleepers
   Deep in your private dream
   Now is the time for you to speak
   O silent majority
   Before they come for you!
2

I agree with most of it (granting poetic license and all) but don’t see what’s so great about it as a poem.

3

I like it quite a bit! It is great to see one of the last of the Beat Generation still active and still writing relevant stuff. I only wish that Allen Ginsberg were still around to add his voice to the protest against the America’s latest military fiasco. Oh, and I also wish that Phil Ochs were still here to write and sing some songs of protest as well.

I was in San Francisco a few years ago, and one of the places I just had to go to was City Lights Bookstore, which was founded and is still managed by Ferlinghetti himself. Definitely one of the great radical/countercultural meccas in the world.

4

“No one speaks”?

What were those hundreds of thousands of protesters doing a few weeks ago, not to mention the daily editorials in many newspapers, the coffee-shop conversations, the “No blood for oil” bumperstickers, and the nightly jokes about “Bush won’t take Yes for an answer” by every late-night talk show host?

5

jackelope. I think Ferlinghetti wrote, and perhaps published, that poem in January, even before the world-wide protests.

6

**
I think this isn’t very good but it’s fast and relevant.

Poem by KarlGauss.

   FREAK OUT!
   
   And a vast hysteria sweeps across the globe
   And America mourns the attack on its Twin Towers
   While trying to prevent the Last World War
   The war with the Last Weapons
   
   And the terrorists scour Washington
   Are shipping out its young men
   To do  the killing again
   
   And the UN speaks not
   
   And they are rousting out
   Some with turbans, some without
   And they are flushing out
   All the illegal immigrants
   
   And they are shipping all the young men
   To do the killing again
   
   And the UN speaks not
   
   And when they come to round up
   All the dead writers and poets and painters 
   Dead from the terrorists' plagues
   They will not speak
   
   While all the young men 
   Will be killing all the US men, women, and children
   In the killing fields again
   
   So now IS the time for you to speak 
   All you lovers of liberty
   All you lovers of the pursuit of happiness 
   All you lovers and sleepers
   Deep in your private dream
   Now is the time for you to speak
   O silent majority
   Before they come for you! **
7

Oops! I’ve been reading the PIT for the last while and forgot I was now in Cafe Society. I wouldn’t have posted it here. Seriously.

Sorry.