Three Poems by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

-- Don't let that horse

Don't let that horse
         eat that violin
cried Chagall's mother 

             But he
        kept right on
             painting

And became famous

And kept on painting
                  The Horse With Violin In Mouth
And when he finally finished it
he jumped up upon the horse
                 and rode away
        waving the violin

And then with a low bow gave it
to the first naked nude he ran across

And there were no strings
                 attached

-- Driving a cardboard automobile without a license

Driving a cardboard automobile without a license
      at the turn of the century
   my father ran into my mother
                  on a fun-ride at Coney Island
         having spied each other eating
             in a French boardinghouse nearby
            And having decided right there and then
                           that she was right for him entirely
   he followed her into
                           the playland of that evening
         where the headlong meeting 
            of their ephemeral flesh on wheels
         hurtled them forever together


And I now in the back seat
               of their eternity
                     reaching out to embrace them 

-- Recipe for happiness in Khabarovsk or any place

One grand boulevard with trees
with one grand cafe in sun
with strong black
coffee in very small cups

One not necessarily very beautiful
man or woman who loves you

One fine day