Starting from San Francisco

by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Starting From San Francisco , first published in 1961, is the third collection of Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s poetry. The long poems of Starting From San Francisco present a new, quieter, more profound aspect of the poet. His original lyricism and caustic humor have been confronted, as it were, with the real presence of evil and death. "Starting from Paumanok... I strike up for a New World" wrote Walt Whitman in 1860. Starting from San Francisco , a hundred years later, Ferlinghetti roved back across the country (this "cradle we rocked out of") then turned south of the border to visionary conclusions in that lost horizon symbolized by Machu Picchu, the Inca city the Spaniards never found. These poems of voyage are autobiographical in that they grew out of Ferlinghetti’s travels in South America and Europe, but there are also poems on other themes, including several long "broadsides," which the author identifies as "satirical tirades––poetry admittedly corrupted by the political, itself irradiated by the Thing it attacks." Commenting on this paperbook edition, to which two important poems, "Berlin" and "The Situation in The West" have been added, Ferlinghetti "These poems represent to me a kind of halfway house in the ascent of a mountain I hardly knew existed until I stopped and looked back at the flatlands below. Like a Zen fool lost in the woods who laughs and lies face down on the earth to find his way."

Genres: Poetry, American, Classics, Travel

64 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1961

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

[Greg Bem · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh, this is a hard book to read in 2021. A lot of the poetry generally feels underwhelming, and despite the free love and Feminism vibes, some of the poems are relatively intolerable with their white male gaze and subtle racist undertones (even if being sarcastic). Perhaps historically noteworthy but there are better, more mature collections by Ferlinghetti out there.

[Mat · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book could have easily been called, Another Side of Lawrence Ferlinghetti because in this collection we can behold a new previously unforeseen side to this great man - there is a stronger vein of cynicism creeping in and whispers of disillusionment with the ways of the world, which everyone goes through the older we get.
Ferlinghetti set himself quite a mean task of having to come up with a strong follow-up book after his first two absolutely brilliant books of poetry - Pictures from the Gone World and the immortal Coney Island of the Mind (which inspired millions of people all over the world including Bob Dylan and Tom Waits).
And yet he delivers, once again. Not quite as powerful as his first two forays into poetry, nevertheless Ferlinghetti adopts a wise tack in this volume by changing direction (remember when Kid A came out after OK Computer?), in the face of all expectations, and striking out for new territory. The poems Starting from San Francisco (which reads like a trip that Jack Kerouac could have made across country), One Thousand Fearful Words for Fidel Castro (full of cynicism and dry humour) and The Situation in the West, Followed by a Holy Proposal (a poem which reminded me of John Lennon's Imagine in which Ferlinghetti, long before Lennon, imagined a world without borders) are all very strong manifestoes and were among my favourites.
I am starting to think that Ferlinghetti might be the best of the beat poets. The only people who come close in my opinion are Gregory Corso (when he is at his best) or Jack Micheline. Highly recommended. Looking forward to reading The Secret Meaning of Things next month.

[Jimmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was a time when I loved the poetry of Lawrence Ferlinghetti and all the beat poets. But it's a bit outdated now. This book seems more of a historical look at a different time that no longer holds up to scrutiny.

[Enry Ravaglini · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lawrence just charms my nipples off

Sometimes, a little cringe, but that's generally a risk you assume when reading beats

[Josh Karaczewski · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not a huge fan of poetry, but I love Ferlinghetti.

My favorite poems in this collection are the titular piece, "Big Fat Hairy Vision of Evil," "The Great Chinese Dragon," and "Special Clearance Sale of Famous Masterpieces."

[michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

it's ight

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't read enough poetry so I'm not the best judge still...some of the first few poems I found moving, like this

Mining towns, once roaring
now shrunk to the railhead,
streetlights stoned with loneliness
or lit with leftover sun
they drank too much of during the day.... (Starting from San Francisco)

And and the rest I enjoyed in their rantiness and laughter

I didn't get much sleep last night
thinking about underwear
Have you ever stopped to consider
underwear in the abstract
When you really dig into it
some shocking problems are raised (underwear)

and this

And the great Chinese dragon has eaten a hundred humans and their legs pop out of his underside and are his walking legs which are not mentioned in the official printed program in which he is written up as the Great Golden Dragon made in Hong Kong to the specifications of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce... (The Great Chinese Dragon)

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not the hugest fan of the Beats, though my poetry mentor Julia Vinograd and my poetry publisher Bruce Isaacson admire them greatly and have done their best to educate me about them. The Beats all seem to need better self-editing to me, and they're usually a bit testosterone-soaked for my taste. Still, these poems of Ferlinghetti's have both wit and reach. The one about the Chinese dragon was purely wonderful. A good night's read, and the kind of book that makes you want to sit down and write. Thank you to my friend, the poet and writer Andre Levi, for leaving this book to me.

[Max Nemtsov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Более гимнические и мантрические тексты, скорее предназначенные для чтения вслух с эстрады. Несмотря на заявления на обложке, лирики тут меньше — скорее политика и манифесты. Но все равно.

[J.C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still strong work here, even though it's a little less coherent of a collection as those i have previous read. I love the fact that the poem titles are written in Ferlinghetti's style. I also really appreciated the addition of "Berlin", which was a very solid poem. His humor is always appreciated and unique as well, as I was hoping I'd find here from my previous readings of his work. Overall, even with the lesser quality work here, I enjoyed reading these poems.

[Maughn Gregory · Rating 4 out of 5]

This little book is a time capsule from the USA just before and just after I was born. I loved it for that as much as for it's Beat sensibility: the paen to "The Great Chinese Dragon," the "Dinner to Promote the Impeachment of President Eisenhower," and the final, "Holy Proposal" of "transcopulation".

[Rod · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second volume in my Ferlinghetti read-everything-by-him-on-my-shelf read-a-thon memorial. It hit me while reading this that many of his poems are lists, litanies, and/or laments. They can sometimes drag a little, but, oh, when they work...One of my favorites here is "Tentative Description of a Dinner to Promote the Impeachment of President Eisenhower." Yep.

[Mark Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mildly interesting collection of poems.

Probably most interesting to read Ferlinghetti burying Fidel Castro about 60 years prematurely.

[Corey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I sometimes think, at his best, he was the best of the beat poets. I'm thinking that right now.

[Mira Madsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spørg mig ikke ind til den; Den er læst i febervildelser. Dog må du gerne spørge ind til sammenhængen mellem undertøj (ja, konceptet) og to-parti-systemer. Det var sjovt.

[Dean Oken · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Berlin” and “The Situation in the West followed by a Holy Proposal” are real standouts for long form Ferlinghetti

[Greg]

"Proto-Leaf" *

by Walt Whitman (Leaves of Grass, 1860 edition)

2

Victory, union, faith, identity, time,
The indissoluble compacts, riches, mystery,
Eternal progress, the kosmos, and the modern reports.

This then is life,
Here is what has come to the surface after so many throes and convulsions.

How curious! how real!
Underfoot the divine soil, overhead the sun.
See revolving the globe,
The ancestor-contintents away group'd together,
The present and future continents north and south, with the isthmus between.

See, vast trackless spaces
As in a dream they change, they swiftly fill,
Countless masses debouch upon them,
They are now cover'd with the for most people, arts, institutions, known.

See, projected through time,
For me an audience interminable.

With firm and regular step they wend, they never stop,
Successions of men, Americanos, a hundred millions,
One generation playing its part and passing on,
Another generation playing its part and passing on in its turn,
With faces turn'd sideways or backward towards me to listen,
With eyes retrospective towards me.


* The title,"Proto-Leaf," Whitman later changed to "Starting from Paumanok" -- the title from which Ferlinghetti took his inspiration for 'Starting From San Francisco.'

[Michael P. · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a great idea for a book of poetry, go to different parts of the world and write poems, starting and ending in your home town. Unfortunately, the execution is wanting.

Shallow people say that many of the world's problems would be solved if only people had more sex, not stopping to think that some of the people doing the world the most harm get all the sex anybody could want. Power does that. The past poem in the collection takes the first part of that as its premise, so while the poem itself is wonderfully expressed, it is shallow, shallow, shallow. The poem telling people not to be so hard on Fidel Castro is, at best, naive from this remove. One wonders if Ferlinghetti had been reading Whitman's worst poems before writing this book. Remember Whitman's lists of things? A few of these poems read that way. Beware of those with repetitions such as "As I approach" (Euphoria), "Evil evil evil evil" (Big Fat Harry Vision of Evil), "is" (Flying Out of It), and "Hidden door" (Hidden Door). They are not amongst Ferlinghetti's best work, and by the way, these are consecutive peoms, pp. 11-23.

A very few are "Coney Island" level wonderful, and some that are less than wonderful have some wonderful writing. Worth reading, but it is OK to skip a few poems.

[Jerry Oliver · Rating 5 out of 5]

To think he started some of these poems the year before I was born and that he still alive and vibrant appearing recently to read at his City Lights bookstore is amazing. These poems mean so much to me at this period of time in my life. These poems paint a picture of the world I was born into and the city I moved to twenty years after the publication of this collection.

[A · Rating 5 out of 5]

My father knew that Lawrence Ferlinghetti and I share a birthday. And so he went to City Lights and asked Ferlinghetti if he would autograph a copy of this book for me. That was back in the 1960s. This gesture inextricably tied my father and me to poetry, and to City Lights Bookstore.

[Angela Skeie]

Modern anglosaxon ladies
must have huge guilt complexes
always washing and washing and washing
...
Do not go naked into that good night

From Underware, or UNDERWARE

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad, nor necessarily memorable or moving, the latter of which are true for "Coney Island of the Mind."

[GK Stritch · Rating 2 out of 5]

poem "Lawrence and Me"

http://www.beatdom.com/?p=3171

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

And I am animals without clothes
looking for a naked unity
--from "Euphoria"

[Cooper Renner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as "classic" as Coney Island but still sly, funny, heartfelt and better than at least 99% of what's been published this year.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

read this to my girlfriend,
“overpopulation” was a rager.

[Luke Stevens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Also don't remember this more than it being good !

[Audrey · Rating 2 out of 5]

is it bad to think things like
nothing new
nothing i havent seen before

eh, eh