Vox Populi

A curated webspace for Poetry, Politics, and Nature with over 20,000 daily subscribers and over 8,000 archived posts.

Abby Zimet: Pity the Nation/ Whose Shepherds Mislead Them

Amidst plunging polls and righteous rage at his Epstein Memorial Ballroom, the inept manchild faces growing resistance, sublime to ridiculous, to his nascent kingship.

October 28, 2025 · 3 Comments

Lawrence Ferlinghetti: I Genitori Perduti

Souls transmigrated maybe
from Hudson’s shrouded shores
across all the silent years—
Which one’s my maybe mafioso father

November 29, 2024 · 15 Comments

Audio: Jack Kerouac reads his poem “Old Angel Midnight”

“Old Angel Midnight” is only the beginning of a lifelong work in multilingual sound, representing the haddalada-babra of babbling world tongues coming in thru my window at midnight no matter where I live or what I’m doing

November 5, 2022 · 4 Comments

Abby Zimet: Rest In Poetry

We bid fond farewell to Lawrence Ferlinghetti, indefatigable poet, publisher, painter, pacifist, iconoclast, political activist, “heart of the Beat generation” and “legend of American letters, bookselling, rabble rousing, wild dreaming.”

February 25, 2021 · Leave a comment

Lawrence Ferlinghetti: I Am Waiting

I am waiting for my case to come up
and I am waiting
for a rebirth of wonder

November 6, 2020 · 4 Comments

Lawrence Ferlinghetti: Poetry as Insurgent Art [I am signaling you through the flames]

Nemesis is knocking at the door.
What are poets for, in such an age? What is the use of poetry?

March 20, 2020 · 6 Comments

Video: Lawrence Ferlinghetti reads “Pity the Nation” (text included)

. Lawrence Monsanto Ferlinghetti (born 1919) is an American poet, painter, liberal activist, and the co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers. Author of poetry, translations, fiction, theatre, art criticism, … Continue reading

July 30, 2017 · 5 Comments

Abby Zimet: Time of Useful Consciousness

A belated 98th birthday to Lawrence Ferlinghetti, indefatigable poet, bookseller, anti-Fascist, First Amendment activist, environmentalist, publisher, painter, creator of community, patron saint of the Beat artists, Poet Laureate of San … Continue reading

April 6, 2017 · 1 Comment

John Samuel Tieman: The Art

To honor Lawrence Ferlinghetti on his 96th birthday, I send along this poem about poems. i I’ve never written a poem that said what I meant one means as much … Continue reading

July 14, 2015 · 2 Comments

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