The City Lights Pocket Poets Series is a series of poetry collections published by

Lawrence Ferlinghetti Lawrence Monsanto Ferlinghetti (March 24, 1919 – February 22, 2021) was an American poet, painter, social activist, and co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers. The author of poetry, translations, fiction, theatre, art criticism, an ...

and

City Lights Books City Lights is an independent bookstore-publisher combination in San Francisco, California, that specializes in world literature, the arts, and progressive politics. It also houses the nonprofit City Lights Foundation, which publishes selected tit ...

of San Francisco since August 1955. The series is most notable for the publication of

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...

's literary milestone "

Howl Howl most often refers to: *Howling, an animal vocalization in many canine species *Howl (poem), a 1956 poem by Allen Ginsberg Howl may also refer to: Film * ''The Howl'', a 1970 Italian film * ''Howl'' (2010 film), a 2010 American arthouse b ...

", which led to an

obscenity An obscenity is any utterance or act that strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time. It is derived from the Latin ''obscēnus'', ''obscaenus'', "boding ill; disgusting; indecent", of uncertain etymology. Such loaded language can be use ...

charge for the publishers that was fought off with the aid of the

ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

. The series is published in a small, affordable paperback format with a distinctive black and white cover design. This design was borrowed from

Kenneth Patchen Kenneth Patchen (December 13, 1911January 8, 1972) was an American poet and novelist. He experimented with different forms of writing and incorporated painting, drawing, and jazz music into his works, which have been compared with those of Will ...

's ''An Astonished Eye Looks Out of the Air'' (1945), published by

Untide Press The Untide Press, founded in 1943, attempted to bring poetry to the public in an inexpensive but attractive format. It was founded by writer William Everson, architect and printer Kemper Nomland, actor Kermit Sheets and editor / librarian William ...

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. The series gave many readers their first introduction to avant-garde poetry. Many of the poets were members of the

Beat Generation The Beat Generation was a literary subculture movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-war era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized by Silent Generatio ...

and the

San Francisco Renaissance The term San Francisco Renaissance is used as a global designation for a range of poetic activity centered on San Francisco, which brought it to prominence as a hub of the American poetry avant-garde in the 1950s. However, others (e.g., Alan Watts ...

, but the volumes included a diverse array of poets, including authors translated from

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

, and

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

. According to Ferlinghetti, "From the beginning the aim was to publish across the board, avoiding the provincial and the academic...I had in mind rather an international, dissident, insurgent ferment."

List of books in the City Lights Pocket Poets Series

, ''Pictures of the Gone World'', August 1955 (reissued & expanded, 1995; 60th Anniversary Edition, 2015) #

Kenneth Rexroth Kenneth Charles Marion Rexroth (1905–1982) was an American poet, translator, and critical essayist. He is regarded as a central figure in the San Francisco Renaissance, and paved the groundwork for the movement. Although he did not consider h ...

(translator), ''Thirty Spanish Poems of Love and Exile'', 1956 #

, ''Poems of Humor and Protest'', 1956 #

, ''Howl and Other Poems'', 1956 (hardcover 40th Anniversary Edition, 1996) #

Marie Ponsot Marie Ponsot (née Birmingham; April 6, 1921 – July 5, 2019) was an American poet, literary critic, essayist, teacher, and translator. Her awards and honors included the National Book Critics Circle Award, Delmore Schwartz Memorial Prize, the ...

, ''True Minds'', 1956 #

Denise Levertov Priscilla Denise Levertov (24 October 1923 – 20 December 1997) was a British-born naturalised American poet. She was a recipient of the Lannan Literary Award for Poetry. Early life and influences Levertov was born and grew up in Ilford, Ess ...

, ''Here and Now'', 1957 #

William Carlos Williams William Carlos Williams (September 17, 1883 – March 4, 1963) was an American poet, writer, and physician closely associated with modernism and imagism. In addition to his writing, Williams had a long career as a physician practicing both pedia ...

, ''Kora in Hell : Improvisations'', 1957 #

Gregory Corso Gregory Nunzio Corso (March 26, 1930 – January 17, 2001) was an American poet and a key member of the Beat movement. He was the youngest of the inner circle of Beat Generation writers (with Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William S. Burrou ...

, ''Gasoline'', 1958 (reissued with The Vestal Lady on Brattle, 1978) #

Jacques Prévert Jacques Prévert (; 4 February 1900 – 11 April 1977) was a French poet and screenwriter. His poems became and remain popular in the French-speaking world, particularly in schools. His best-regarded films formed part of the poetic realist moveme ...

, ''Paroles'', 1958 (reissued bilingually, 1990) # Robert Duncan, ''Selected Poems'', 1959 #

Jerome Rothenberg Jerome Rothenberg (born December 11, 1931) is an American poet, translator and anthologist, noted for his work in the fields of ethnopoetics and performance poetry. Early life and education Jerome Rothenberg was born and raised in New York ...

(translator), ''New Young German Poets'', 1959 #

Nicanor Parra Nicanor Segundo Parra Sandoval (5 September 1914 – 23 January 2018) was a Chilean poet and physicist. He was considered one of the most influential Chilean poets of the Spanish language in the 20th century, often compared with Pablo Neruda. P ...

, ''Anti-Poems'', 1960 # Kenneth Patchen, ''The Love Poems of Kenneth Patchen'', 1960 # Allen Ginsberg, ''Kaddish and Other Poems'', 1961 (reissued 50th Anniversary Edition, 2010) # Robert Nichols, ''Slow Newsreel of Man Riding Train'', 1962 # Yevgeni Yevtuschenko, ''etc.'',

Anselm Hollo Anselm Paul Alexis Hollo (12 April 1934 – 29 January 2013) was a Finnish poet and translator. He lived in the United States from 1967 until his death in January 2013. Hollo published more than forty titles of poetry in the United Kingdom and ...

(translator), Red Cats, 1962 #

Malcolm Lowry Clarence Malcolm Lowry (; 28 July 1909 – 26 June 1957) was an English poet and novelist who is best known for his 1947 novel ''Under the Volcano'', which was voted No. 11 in the Modern Library 100 Best Novels list.

, ''Selected Poems of Malcolm Lowry'', 1962 (reedited and reissued, 2017) # Allen Ginsberg, ''Reality Sandwiches'', 1963 #

Frank O'Hara Francis Russell "Frank" O'Hara (March 27, 1926 – July 25, 1966) was an American writer, poet, and art critic. A curator at the Museum of Modern Art, O'Hara became prominent in New York City's art world. O'Hara is regarded as a leading figure i ...

, '' Lunch Poems'', 1964 (reissued 50th Anniversary Edition, 2014) #

Philip Lamantia Philip Lamantia (October 23, 1927 – March 7, 2005) was an American poet and lecturer. His poems were often visionary, ecstatic, terror-filled, and erotic, exploring the subconscious world of dreams and linking it to daily experiences, while so ...

, ''Selected Poems 1943-1966'', 1967 #

Bob Kaufman Robert Garnell Kaufman (April 18, 1925 – January 12, 1986) was an American Beat poet and surrealist as well as a jazz performance artist and satirist. In France, where his poetry had a large following, he was known as the "black American ...

, ''Golden Sardine'', 1967 # Janine Pommy-Vega, ''Poems to Fernando'', 1968 # Allen Ginsberg, '' Planet News'', 1961-1967, 1968 # Charles Upton, ''Panic Grass'', 1968 #

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

, ''Hunk of Skin'', 1968 #

Robert Bly Robert Elwood Bly (December 23, 1926 – November 21, 2021) was an American poet, essayist, activist and leader of the mythopoetic men's movement. His best-known prose book is '' Iron John: A Book About Men'' (1990), which spent 62 weeks on ' ...

, ''The Teeth-Mother Naked At Last'', 1970 #

Diane DiPrima Diane di Prima (August 6, 1934October 25, 2020) was an American poet, known for her association with the Beat movement. She was also an artist, prose writer, and teacher. Her magnum opus is widely considered to be ''Loba'', a collection of poem ...

, ''Revolutionary Letters'', 1971 #

Jack Kerouac Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian a ...

, ''Scattered Poems'', 1971 #

Andrei Voznesensky Andrei Andreyevich Voznesensky (russian: link=no, Андре́й Андре́евич Вознесе́нский, 12 May 1933 – 1 June 2010) was a Soviet and Russian poet and writer who had been referred to by Robert Lowell as "one of the ...

, ''Dogalypse'', 1972 # Allen Ginsberg, ''The Fall of America, Poems of These States 1965-1971'', 1972 # Pete Winslow, ''A Daisy in the Memory of a Shark'', 1973 #

Harold Norse Harold Norse (July 6, 1916, New York City – June 8, 2009, San Francisco) was an American writer who created a body of work using the American idiom of everyday language and images. One of the expatriate artists of the Beat generation, Norse w ...

, ''Hotel Nirvana'', 1974 #

Anne Waldman Anne Waldman (born April 2, 1945) is an American poet. Since the 1960s, Waldman has been an active member of the Outrider experimental poetry community as a writer, performer, collaborator, professor, editor, scholar, and cultural/political activ ...

, ''Fast Speaking Woman'', 1975 (reissued & expanded, 1996) #

Jack Hirschman Jack Hirschman (December 13, 1933 – August 22, 2021) was an American poet and social activist who wrote more than 100 volumes of poetry and essays. Biography Hirschman was born in New York City to a Russian Jewish family. He received a B.A. ...

, ''Lyripol'', 1976 # Allen Ginsberg, '' Mind Breaths, Poems 1972-1977'', 1977 #

Stefan Brecht Stefan Sebastian Brecht (November 3, 1924 – April 13, 2009) was a German-born American poet, critic and scholar of theatre. Life and career The son of playwright and poet Bertolt Brecht and actress Helene Weigel, Stefan Brecht was born in Berl ...

, ''Poems'', 1978 #

Peter Orlovsky Peter Anton Orlovsky (July 8, 1933 – May 30, 2010) was an American poet and actor. He was the long-time partner of Allen Ginsberg. Early life and career Orlovsky was born in the Lower East Side of New York City, the son of Katherine (née ...

, ''Clean Asshole Poems & Smiling Vegetable Songs'', 1978 #

Antler Antlers are extensions of an animal's skull found in members of the Cervidae (deer) family. Antlers are a single structure composed of bone, cartilage, fibrous tissue, skin, nerves, and blood vessels. They are generally found only on male ...

, ''Factory'', 1980 # Philip Lamantia, ''Becoming Visible'', 1981 # Allen Ginsberg, ''Plutonian Ode and Other Poems 1977-1980'', 1982 #

Pier Paolo Pasolini Pier Paolo Pasolini (; 5 March 1922 – 2 November 1975) was an Italian poet, filmmaker, writer and intellectual who also distinguished himself as a journalist, novelist, translator, playwright, visual artist and actor. He is considered one of ...

, ''Roman Poems'', 1986 (reissued bilingually, 2005) # Scott Rollins (editor), ''Nine Dutch Poets'', 1982. Translations of poems by

Karel Appel Christiaan Karel Appel (; 25 April 1921 – 3 May 2006) was a Dutch painter, sculptor, and poet. He started painting at the age of fourteen and studied at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam in the 1940s. He was one of the founders of the avant-gard ...

J. Bernlef Hendrik Jan Marsman (14 January 1937 – 29 October 2012), better known by his pen name, J. Bernlef, was a Dutch writer, poet, novelist and translator, much of whose work centres on mental perception of reality and its expression. He won numerous ...

Remco Campert Remco Campert (28 July 1929 – 4 July 2022) was a Dutch author, poet and columnist. Early years Remco Wouter Campert was born in The Hague, son of writer and poet Jan Campert, author of the poem ''De achttien dooden'', and actress Joekie Bro ...

Jules Deelder Jules Anton Deelder (24 November 1944 – 19 December 2019) was a Dutch poet, spoken word poet and writer. His poems cover topics such as life in the city of Rotterdam, drug use, and jazz. He was very passionate about the Dutch language and fear ...

Judith Herzberg Judith Frieda Lina Herzberg (born 4 November 1934) is a Dutch poet and writer. Life and work Judith Herzberg is the daughter of lawyer and writer Abel Herzberg. During World War II Herzberg went into hiding on various locations. Since 1983 He ...

Lucebert Lucebert (; Lubertus Jacobus Swaanswijk; 15 September 1924 – 10 May 1994) was a Dutch artist who first became known as the poet of the COBRA movement. He was born in Amsterdam in 1924. He entered the Institute for Arts and Crafts in 193 ...

, Hans Plomp,

Bert Schierbeek Lambertus Roelof (Bert) Schierbeek (18 June 1918, Glanerbrug, Overijssel – 9 June 1996, Amsterdam) was a Dutch writer. He won numerous awards throughout his career, amongst them the 1991 Constantijn Huygens Prize. During the German occupatio ...

, and

Simon Vinkenoog Simon Vinkenoog (18 July 1928 – 12 July 2009) was a Dutch poet, spoken word poet and writer. He was the editor of the anthology ''Atonaal'' (Atonal), which launched the Dutch "Fifties Movement". In 2004 he was chosen as Dichter des Vaderland ...

. Also includes a text by

Anton Constandse Anton Levien Constandse (September 13, 1899 – March 23, 1983) was a Dutch anarchist author and journalist. Biography The son of a baptist hotelier, Constandse completed the normal school between 1914 and 1918 and in this period came into conta ...

. #

Ernesto Cardenal Ernesto Cardenal Martínez (20 January 1925 – 1 March 2020) was a Nicaraguan Catholic priest, poet, and politician. He was a liberation theologian and the founder of the primitivist art community in the Solentiname Islands, where he lived fo ...

, ''From Nicaragua With Love'', 1986 #

Antonio Porta Antonio Alejandro Porta Pernigotti (born 28 October 1983) is a former Argentine-Italian professional basketball player, who lasted played with the Svendborg Rabbits in the Danish Basketball League. He played at both the point guard and shooti ...

, ''Kisses From Another Dream'', 1987 #

Adam Cornford Adam Cornford (born 26 February 1950) is a British poet, journalist, and essayist and a great-great-grandson of Charles Darwin. From 1987 to 2008 he led the Poetics Program at New College of California in San Francisco. Biography Adam Francis C ...

, ''Animations'', 1988 # La Loca, ''Adventures on the Isle of Adolescence'', 1989 #

Vladimir Mayakovsky Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky (, ; rus, Влади́мир Влади́мирович Маяко́вский, , vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr vlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvʲɪtɕ məjɪˈkofskʲɪj, Ru-Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky.ogg, links=y; – 14 Apr ...

, ''Listen!'', 1991 # Jack Kerouac, ''Pomes All Sizes'', 1992 # Daisy Zamora, ''Riverbed of Memory'', 1992 #

Rosario Murillo Rosario María Murillo Zambrana (; born 22 June 1951) is a Nicaraguan politician and poet who has held the position of Vice President of Nicaragua, the country's second highest office, since January 2017 and First Lady of Nicaragua since 2007 ...

, ''Angel in the Deluge'', 1992 # Jack Kerouac, ''The Scripture of the Golden Eternity'', 1994 # Alberto Blanco, ''Dawn of the Senses'', 1995 #

Julio Cortázar Julio Florencio Cortázar (26 August 1914 – 12 February 1984; ) was an Argentine, nationalized French novelist, short story writer, essayist, and translator. Known as one of the founders of the Latin American Boom, Cortázar influenced an ent ...

, ''Save Twilight: Selected Poems'', 1997 (reissued in an expanded edition, 2016) #

Dino Campana Dino Campana (20 August 1885 – 1 March 1932) was an Italian visionary poet. His fame rests on his only published book of poetry, the ''Canti Orfici'' ("Orphic Songs"), as well as his wild and erratic personality, including his ill-fated love af ...

, ''Orphic Songs'', 1998 # Jack Hirschman, ''Front Lines: Selected Poems'', 2002 # Semezdin Mehmedinovic, ''Nine Alexandrias'', 2003 # Kamau Daaood, ''The Language of Saxophones'', 2005 #

Cristina Peri Rossi Cristina Peri Rossi (born 12 November 1941) is a Uruguayan novelist, poet, translator, and author of short stories. Considered a leading light of the post-1960s period of prominence of the Latin-American novel, she has written more than 37 work ...

, ''State of Exile'', 2008 # ''Tau'' by Philip Lamantia and ''Journey to the End'' by John Hoffman, 2008 # David Meltzer, ''When I Was A Poet'', 2011 # Tongo Eisen-Martin, ''Heaven Is All Goodbyes'', 2017

References

* Introduction, page i. ''City Lights Pocket Poets Anthology''. Lawrence Ferlinghetti, editor. City Lights Books, 1995. ({{ISBN, 0-87286-311-5)
''City Lights Pocket Poets - Cover Story''
by

Marcus Williamson Marcus Williamson is a British writer, journalist and campaigner. As an obituarist for ''The Independent'' he has written obituaries of more than 300 subjects, including artists, poets, actors and inventors. Campaigns Phorm In 2009 the AIM-l ...

American poetry collections City Lights Publishers books