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).