Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/01/09/shytegeist-turns-lawrence-ferl.html
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I love every minute of this. I am continually awaiting a new rebirth of wonder…
Ferlinghetti is one of my favorites.
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“the rebirth of wonder”
I’m waiting for that too.
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This is the first time I have heard this poem read, it has a much more powerful effect when read aloud. The video is pretty sweet too. Poem’s original text can be found here.
Perhaps the crowning issue Ferlinghetti has addressed during his time (he is currently 97 years of age), has been to advocate that “…art should be accessible to all people, not just a handful of highly educated intellectuals.” When you add in the variable of the open internet, it is a stance I see bleed over to this current generation of art producers and consumers, from the torrenting and piracy community, to the increasing popularity of creative commons, blogging and art blogging, and self-publishing. People make art for it to be consumed, ultimately. It is made to get a point across, if only to oneself. With the economy going the way it is in the USA at least, it is getting harder and harder to be an artist without having to work 1 or 3 shit jobs just to “get by.”
I feel like it is been many years or decades even since art has had a true revolution. I feel that for a change of mind - politically and sociologically - we as a species must also usher in an artistic revolution. We might be seeing the pangs of such a revival now (or perhaps not). How people feel about art reflect how people feel about the world. This ties into current trends in copyright law and how its enforced. The fact that the amount of effort it takes to copy, store and consume art has gone down drastically over the last few years means that artists and their products are worth considerably less and less - even though the effort to produce art is still considerably high. I can only hope for something like a basic income to support a new generation of artists. Automation and Innovation provide the means by which we can live comfortably in this increasing plurality of existence, and the fact that we still use money to determine wealth and livelihood becomes sillier and sillier as we approach an economy of post-scarcity.
What this poem makes me think about is Art and how we must strive towards using shared resources to support shared goals, and how Art can not only be used a means of conveyance, but also as the medium by which such an idea is ushered into the hearts and minds of the participants of the future renaissance.
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Shytegeist nailed it on this one. I loved the reading by Matt, the music is great. “I Am Waiting” is a poem for today…hard to believe it was written so long ago.
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Hope this goes viral! Too good to not orbit the earth multiple times. 
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My late father was good friends with Ferlinghetti and I have to wonder what he would have thought of this – a re-imagining of a classic overlaid with a seemingly ironic montage of pop culture icons “speaking” its words. I’d have to imagine he’d have found it fascinating.
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