from The Street's Kiss:

by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Poetry is the shook foil of the imagination. It should shine out and half blind you.

A poem is a mirror walking down a strange street.

Poetry is music forced through a fire hose.

Poetry is a lyric conversation overheard on a dark night near a dismal swamp in an illegal city.

Poetry is midday singing at midnight.

Each poem should be a momentary madness, and the unreal is realist.

 

from The Street's Kiss