"Constantly Risking Absurdity (#15)" by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Lawrence Ferlinghetti was a writer, publisher, and bookstore owner beginning in the 1950s. He is associated with the Beats (his own writing is not considered "beat poetry," but his bookstore was a hub for the beats and he published work by Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs, and many others.

Key terms: beat, free verse, form, structure

Constantly Risking Absurdity (#15)

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 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

This poem is just about the definition of free verse - there seems to be no structure, such that the poem itself is almost "absurd." And of course, it seems like that is the point. The poem is about the acrobat, but this is a metaphor for the poet, who tries things that are just as dangerous-- only with words. The way the poet messes with words in front of the audience, carefully taking steps yet always taking risks that might be one step too far. I love the line - "where Beauty stands and waits / with gravity"... oh, the danger of writing poetry! How true it is, also, considering Ferlinghetti's connection with Allen Ginsberg and the "Howl" trial. To return to my initial question - of course there is a structure; it follows the language. Read the poem, and imagine a trapeze artist swinging back and forth, up and down from the wires... do you get that from the lines? Pay attention to where the indents lie, where the line stops off and joins the next- sometimes smoothly, sometimes abruptly. The poem is doing the same thing. It would be difficult to deliver that effect from a purely auditory reading, but it's still a fascinating poem.

http://www.poetryoutloud.org/poem/184167