An Encounter with Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Hearing about his death yesterday reminded me that I actually met him almost 60 years ago. In 1963, when I was just 18 years old and going to Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, a friend and I drove up to San Francisco.
While we were there, I wandered into City Lights bookstore and browsed around. One book caught my eye, so I read its first page and was interested in the writing style, so I took it up to the cash register to pay for it. The book was the novella, "Her" by Lawrence Ferlinghetti. I had never heard of the author.
"Good choice," the man behind the register said. "Want me to sign it? I wrote it." "Sure," I answered. We chatted for a few minutes, about what I can't remember.
Most people thought the book was unreadable. Written in a stream-of-consciousness style, and in endless run-on sentences, it was a bit of a challenge, but it woke me up to new ways to express thoughts. It stuck with me, and influenced my own writing in subtle ways. It also introduced me to the Beat Generation, which played a large role in changing my thinking and way of life over time.
At that time I was an Electronics Engineering major. I ended up being a freelance writer, starting in 1974. My decision to make writing my career probably started with reading Ferlinghetti's book and many others from his generation and later writers. Although I wrote some poetry and fiction, almost all of my output was non-fiction. But, Lawrence Ferlinghetti triggered my thinking about career choices.
RIP, Lawrence! Thanks for the kick in the butt.
= new reply since forum marked as read
lets us do with them what we will....
Like opening a door.....
