These are My Rivers: New & Selected Poems, 1955-1993

by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Lawrence Ferlinghetti, "one of our ageless radicals and true bards" ( Booklist ), has gathered here four decades of poetry in his inimitable everyman’s voice, including more than fifty pages of new work. The tone has deepened over the years, and he may now be seen as a true maestro in his field. Behind the irresistible air of immediacy and spontaneity lies much erudition and an antic imagination intent on subverting "the dominant paradigm." From his earliest books, including his landmark Coney Island of the Mind , Ferlinghetti has written poetry "in ways that those who see poetry as the province of the few and educated had never imagined. That strength has turned out to be lasting" (Joel Oppenheimer, N. Y. Times Books Review ).

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Contemporary

320 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1993

About the author

A prominent voice of the wide-open poetry movement that began in the 1950s, Lawrence Ferlinghetti has written poetry, translation, fiction, theater, art criticism, film narration, and essays. Often concerned with politics and social issues, Ferlinghetti’s poetry countered the literary elite's definition of art and the artist's role in the world. Though imbued with the commonplace, his poetry cannot be simply described as polemic or personal protest, for it stands on his craftsmanship, thematics, and grounding in tradition.

Ferlinghetti was born in Yonkers in 1919, son of Carlo Ferlinghetti who was from the province of Brescia and Clemence Albertine Mendes-Monsanto. Following his undergraduate years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he served in the U.S. Navy in World War II as a ship's commander. He received a Master’s degree from Columbia University in 1947 and a Doctorate de l’Université de Paris (Sorbonne) in 1950. From 1951 to 1953, when he settled in San Francisco, he taught French in an adult education program, painted, and wrote art criticism. In 1953, with Peter D. Martin (son of Carlo Tresca) he founded City Lights Bookstore, the first all-paperbound bookshop in the country, and by 1955 he had launched the City Lights publishing house.

The bookstore has served for half a century as a meeting place for writers, artists, and intellectuals. City Lights Publishers began with the Pocket Poets Series, through which Ferlinghetti aimed to create an international, dissident ferment. His publication of Allen Ginsberg’s Howl & Other Poems in 1956 led to his arrest on obscenity charges, and the trial that followed drew national attention to the San Francisco Renaissance and Beat movement writers. (He was overwhelmingly supported by prestigious literary and academic figures, and was acquitted.) This landmark First Amendment case established a legal precedent for the publication of controversial work with redeeming social importance.

Ferlinghetti’s paintings have been shown at various galleries around the world, from the Butler Museum of American Painting to Il Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome. He has been associated with the international Fluxus movement through the Archivio Francesco Conz in Verona. He has toured Italy, giving poetry readings in Roma, Napoli, Bologna, Firenze, Milano, Verona, Brescia, Cagliari, Torino, Venezia, and Sicilia. He won the Premio Taormino in 1973, and since then has been awarded the Premio Camaiore, the Premio Flaiano, the Premio Cavour. among others. He is published in Italy by Oscar Mondadori, City Lights Italia, and Minimum Fax. He was instrumental in arranging extensive poetry tours in Italy produced by City Lights Italia in Firenze. He has translated from the italian Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Poemi Romani, which is published by City Lights Books. In San Francisco, his work can regularly be seen at the George Krevsky Gallery at 77 Geary Street.

Ferlinghetti’s A Coney Island of the Mind continues to be the most popular poetry book in the U.S. It has been translated into nine languages, and there are nearly 1,000,000 copies in print. The author of poetry, plays, fiction, art criticism, and essays, he has a dozen books currently in print in the U.S., and his work has been translated in many countries and in many languages. His most recent books are A Far Rockaway of the Heart (1997), How to Paint Sunlight (2001), and Americus Book I (2004) published by New Directions.

He has been the recipient of numerous prizes, including the Los Angeles Times’ Robert Kirsch Award, the BABRA Award for Lifetime Achievement, the National Book Critics Circle Ivan Sandrof Award for Contribution to American Arts and Letters, the American Civil Liberties Union’s Earl Warren Civil Liberties Award. Ferlinghetti was named San Francisco’s first poet laureate.

Reviews

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't finish this yet; to me, the best poetry books are the ones that you never actually finish but every time you pick it up, you find something wonderful. This is definitely one of those books.

[Willow Redd · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I took my first poetry writing class in college, my professor told me that my work reminded him of Lawrence Ferlinghetti. At the time, I hadn't read anything by Ferlinghetti, but being compared to someone who was a contemporary and friend of Ginsberg and Kerouac was fantastic! I immediately started reading some of his work, and eventually picked up this volume so I would have more to look through. It took me a while to read it, but here we are.

This is a fantastic collection! There are writings from almost each period of Ferlinghetti's career, samples taken from other works he has released over time. There seems to be a focus on travel and art in many of these works, and one wonders if this collection also works as a bit of biography of the man, pinpointing where he was and what his mind was set to during each period of his life.

There are poems in here that get my blood boiling with creativity. He makes me want to write, to create.

[Jonathan Holleb · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my quintessential coffee shop/ reading in the park books...Ferlinghetti has been one of my favorite poets ever since I first read A Coney Island of the Mind...He likely changed my approach to writing poetry, in that his sporatic spacing and line breaks is something I use from time to time...Though some people find it distracting, I believe Ferlinghetti uses it to make you feel the movment of his words & paint a verbal picture in multiple ways...He is, after all, a painter as well as poet...I could ramble on forever, but this is the best collection of his work I have come across...It spans the vast majority of his poetic career...Favorite poems would be Autobiography, I Am Waiting, Retired Ballerinas, etc. etc. etc.

[Jonny Cigar · Rating 4 out of 5]

A friend, I shall call "Dean" told me that he read this book in the 3rd grade or something like that. Well, I read it last year and thought it was genius, for the most part. Ferlinghetti was recommended to me by Billy Collins. I remember the night well: I was reading a Collins poem and he mentioned this Ferlinghetti character. In my imaginative rocking chair, I phoned Billy and he told me to pick up the book titled something about rivers. Okay. Done. Great. Collins, I see where you got your inspiration you old dirty dog.

[Scott Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've loved Ferlinghetti since I first encountered "Constantly Risking Absurdity" either in high school or college. His vivid imagery, his passionate connection to the public and to public issues, and his beautiful, beautiful, BEAUTIFUL language make him one of my favorite twentieth century poets.

[Steven Godin · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the lower left-hand corner
of an album landscape
I am walking thru a dark park
with a noted nymphomaniac
trying to discover
for what she is noted

We are talking as we walk
of various villainies
of church & state
and of the tyrannies
of love & hate

The moon makes hairless nudes

An alabaster girl upon her back
becomes a body made of soap
beneath a wet gypsy

Suddenly we rush
thru a bent gate
into hot grass

One more tree
falls in the forest

[Larry · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a college student in the 1960s, I was entranced by Coney Island of the Mind and other Ferlinghetti books. "I am Waiting" still moves me, but I was disappointed by many of the other poems. His imagist style poems later in life were a nice surprise, however. He may have been a minor poet, but his role as a bookstore owner and publisher makes him significant in American literary history.

[Cherie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A- Ahhh, Ferlinghetti. He is a marvelous poet, and these poems are the kind that make you want to sit around all day and dream and wish you were around at the start of City Lights and during the Howl trial…a must for any Beat fans or Ferlinghetti fans.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

The most underrated of his crew, and the most accomplished: after all, he lived to tell the tale.

Here's a tribute to him after he passed away at the impressive age of 101:

https://artsfuse.org/223563/literary-...

[jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nice way to be introduced to Ferlinghetti- the book give a good sampling of his writing, with plenty opportunities to dog-ear the pages to re-read later.

[amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great collection of his poetry.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

A can't-miss introduction to this incomparable poet!

[Hanna Abi Akl · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brilliant collection of poems encompassing memories and reflections. Ferlinghetti shows flexibility in his style but his words remain pertinent and artistic all thr same. A recommended read.

[Edmund Davis-Quinn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like most poetry collections I would rather read the entire book than selected parts.

Some good stuff but it's all a bit muddled.

I do love "A Coney Island of the Mind" so I would like to read more Ferlinghetti in the future.

[Andrea Janov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Selected collections are always interesting because you get to see a poets change and progress in a condensed form. Ferlinghetti, ever the observer of the world, constantly refreshes his language and delivery.

[Mike Picano · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mine has an Authentic Label Autograph.

[Milan Marzilli · Rating 5 out of 5]

incredible. interesting reading such a political poet and all of his words still being true to this day. makes u think, is anything ever really changing?

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume lets you sample poems from all phases of Ferlinghetti’s career. Since this was my first exposure to him I found this helpful. I found I like his work from the late 70s best, particularly the selections from Who Are We Now? and Northwest Ecolog. Although I enjoyed some of the poems immensely, for my tastes Ferlinghetti’s poetry is too much from ‘in the head’ rather than descriptive of immediate experience.

[Patricia N. McLaughlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jazzy improvisational riffs on life’s songbook made Ferlinghetti the master Beat of his generation. This collection is full of masterpieces, too many favorites to list, except “Populist Manifesto,” “Rough Song of Animals Dying,” and his masterpiece, “History of the World: A TV Document-Drama,” which must be mentioned in all its glory.

[Tyson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection offers a good introduction to Ferlinghetti's work (which is, of course, terrific). Still, you'll probably want to skip the newer poems and head right to the good stuff at the back.

[Jodi Gianakopoulos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing person.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this and found several poems that I really like across his decades of output.