Though I never spoke directly with Lawrence Ferlinghetti, I remain grateful for the fruits of his influence, which I have benefited from these past fifteen years.
It's safe to say that if Jack Powers had never gotten excited by Ferlinghetti's work, there wouldn't be a Stone Soup Poetry series for me to run into the ground today.
Carol Weston--friend to both men--would no doubt have gotten the idea to reach out to Ferlinghetti as Stone Soup inched closer and closer to it's fiftieth anniversary this May. Just to let him know.
It's too bad that never happened, but Lawrence Ferlinghetti has done more than enough, more than most of us dare to dream with our self-published chapbooks and online journals.
I'll leave it to the tributes from Carol and dozens of other poets to fill in his absence. As well as Ferlinghetti's own words, which include a goodbye to Jack, whose spirit was willing to carry Ferlinghetti's torch even when his body wasn't.
Ferlinghetti kept the flame going for so many and for so long. Thank you, sir. Who wants to come up next?
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