Constantly risking absurdity           by Lawrence Ferlinghetti Constantly risking absurdity                                             and death      whenever he performs                                        above the heads                                                                 of his audience the poet like an acrobat                            climbs on rime                                            to a high wire of his own making and balancing on eyebeams                                               above a sea of faces                 paces his way                                       to the other side of the day     performing entrechats                                     and sleight-of-foot tricks and other high theatrics                                     and all without mistaking               any thing                            for what it may not be For he's the super realist                                        who must perforce perceive      taut truth                    before the taking of each stance or step    in his supposed advance                                           toward that still higher perch where Beauty stands and waits                                            with gravity                                                         to start her death-defying leap    And he               a little charleychaplin man                                             who may or may not catch                her fair eternal form                                      spreadeagled in the empty air                       of existence Back to Suite101 article "March Poet - Lawrence Ferlinghetti" Back to Stone Gulch Home