esrosedotblog

I was not a child of the Sixties.

More of a middle ager that got nipped in the ass by it.

I liked a lot of the stuff and bought into it but basically could not stand the showboating and disguised hate of it all. Hate of country, hate of other classes. Just plain hate.

No one from that time who was into it would agree with me of course.

Nevertheless I do enjoy the memories of the times which did change me. Alter my view.

Today's film is a reminder of all that countercultural stuff. The good and the claptrap.

Ferlinghetti: The Rebirth of Wonder (2009)

This film does a very good job of separating the shit from the shinola.

The one very important thing about Ferlinghetti is that he founded and maintained a mainstay of a strong counter culture in the form of his wonderful City Lights Book Store. A SFO landmark.

I am not a poetry guy. I am more a "if you have something to say fucking say it" kind of guy. The elliptical and the metaphoric does not sing in my head.

But I enjoyed this film anyway because Ferlinghetti is a strong hero to a lot of people and if you scrape the nonsense off him he is a great poet and a great thinker. He is seminal.

I love that he is beat poet and a capitalist. An American contradiction. The gods laugh.

I would gladly see this again just to hear the poetry and see this guy swing. A 4 out of Netflix5.

Labels: documentary, films, poetry