Southern California, Where The American

I Certainly Was Surprised To Be Named Poet Laureate Of This Far-out City On The Left Side Of The World, And I Gratefully Accept, For As I Told The Mayor, "how Could I Refuse?" I'd Rather Be Poet Laureate Of San Francisco Than Anywhere Because This City Has Always Been A Poetic Center, A Frontier For Free Poetic Life, With Perhaps More Poets And More Poetry Readers Than Any City In The World.

Freedom Of Speech Is Always Under Attack By Fascist Mentality, Which Exists In All Parts Of The World, Unfortunately.

The Art Has To Make It On Its Own, Without Explanations, And It’s The Same For Poetry. If The Poem Or The Painting Has To Be Explained, Then It’s A Failure In Communication.

There Is An Ecstatic Mechanism In Birds That Makes Them Fly Upwards In Spite Of Worms.

I Once Started Out To Walk Around The World But Ended Up In Brooklyn, That Bridge Was Too Much For Me.