2003 Frost Medalist

Lawrence Ferlinghetti has been writing his poetry for over 60 years. It is relevant to say "his" because the poetry of Lawrence Ferlinghetti is, in most noteworthy aspects, unlike the poems we see and read in the crowded verse landscape.

Ferlinghetti is clearly not a confessional poet. He is not persuaded and indeed attracted by subjects which have a highly intimate coloring. All poetry is in one form or another lyrical but the lyrical in "his" poetry arises more out of the subject matter and the liberated way in which it is treated than it does out of the chosen word and phrase couplings. He is clearly not a "language poet". Ferlinghetti is nothing if not ferociously insistent on being understood.

Ferlinghetti's poems are caused not by the poet in him but by that poet reacting to the subject matter of the world which he runs into around him. He is a poet created by the view he develops of the world external to him. He is a poet of outrage, belief and involvement not with himself and his poetic sensibilities but with the world seen through him and free of him.

Most poets and all poetry should be loved both for the achievement made and for the courage of having entered the fray. There are thus abundant reasons for loving Ferlinghetti and celebrating his work. One may be added: we honor him for the devoted ally and advocate he has been to the world that surrounds us.