# Poem by Lawrence Ferlinghetti. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 11, 2003, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poem-by-lawrence-ferlinghetti/160662 "2003-03-11T21:44:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2003, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poem-by-lawrence-ferlinghetti/160662/1 "2003-03-11T21:44:54Z")
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! ``` ---
**Author:** ![MusicJunkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@MusicJunkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MusicJunkie)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2003, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poem-by-lawrence-ferlinghetti/160662/2 "2003-03-11T23:26:34Z")
I agree with most of it (granting poetic license and all) but don’t see what’s so great about it as a poem. ---
**Author:** ![Jerrybear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8c91f0/32.png) [@Jerrybear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jerrybear)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2003, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poem-by-lawrence-ferlinghetti/160662/3 "2003-03-11T23:38:38Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poem-by-lawrence-ferlinghetti/160662/4 "2003-03-12T00:22:58Z")
“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? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poem-by-lawrence-ferlinghetti/160662/5 "2003-03-12T05:02:10Z")
**jackelope**. I think Ferlinghetti wrote, and perhaps published, that poem in January, even before the world-wide protests. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poem-by-lawrence-ferlinghetti/160662/6 "2003-03-12T05:23:57Z")
\*\* 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! ** ``` ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poem-by-lawrence-ferlinghetti/160662/7 "2003-03-12T05:28:39Z")
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.