Saturday, February 13, 2010

Video of the Week: "Underwear" by Lawrence Ferlinghetti


Since the fall out from the failed Christmas Day airline attack by the underwear bomber continues to reverberate within the beltway (see here, here and here), I thought Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s "Underwear" poem might come in handy. He writes, "don't get emotional... don't shout.... " Video is from SpokenVerse:



Don’t be deceived
It’s all based on the two-party system
which doesn’t allow much freedom of choice   
the way things are set up   
America in its Underwear
struggles thru the night
Underwear controls everything in the end
[…]
There won’t be no real revolution
And poetry still the underwear of the soul   
And underwear still covering
a multitude of faults
in the geological sense—
strange sedimentary stones, inscrutable cracks!   
If I were you I’d keep aside
an oversize pair of winter underwear   
Do not go naked into that good night   
And in the meantime
keep calm and warm and dry
No use stirring ourselves up prematurely   
‘over Nothing’
Move forward with dignity
hand in vest
Don’t get emotional
And death shall have no dominion   
There’s plenty of time my darling
Are we not still young and easy
Don’t shout


Full text of Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s poem is here.







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