Lawrence Ferlinghetti: How To Paint Sunlight

How To Paint Sunlight

I asked a hundred painters and a hundred poets
how to paint sunlight
on the face of life
Their answers were ambiguous and ingenuous
as if they were all guarding trade secrets
whereas it seems to me
all you have to do
is conceive of the whole world
and all humanity
as a kind of art work
an art project of the god of light
the whole earth and all that’s in it
to be painted with light ...

... And when you’ve finished your painting
stand back astonished
stand back and observe
the life on earth that you’ve created
the lighted life on earth
that you’ve created
a new brave world.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Photos: Miroslav B. Dušanić

Lawrence Ferlinghetti: Pity the nation

Pity the nation
(After Khalil Gibran)
 
Pity the nation whose people are sheep
And whose shepherds mislead them
Pity the nation whose leaders are liars
Whose sages are silenced
And whose bigots rule the airwaves
Pity the nation that raises not its voice
Except to praise conquerers
And acclaim the bully as hero
And aims to rule the world
By force and by torture
Pity the nation that knows
No other language but its own
And no other culture but its own
Pity the nation whose breath is money
And sleeps the sleep of the too well fed
Pity the nation oh pity the people
who allow their rights to erode
and their freedoms to be washed away
My country, tears of thee
Sweet land of liberty!

Lawrence Ferlinghetti