Not too long
–Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Not too long
after the beginning of time
upon a nine o’clock
of a not too hot
summer night
standing in the door
of the NEW PISA
under the forgotten
plaster head of DANTE
waiting for a table
and watching
everything
was a man with a mirror for a head
which didn’t look so abnormal at that
except that
real ears stuck out
and he had a sign
which read
A POEM IS A MIRROR WALKING DOWN A STRANGE STREET
but anyway
as I was saying
and not too long after the beginning
of time
this man who was all eyes
had no mouth
all he could do was show people
what he meant
and it turned out
he claimed to be
a painter
but anyway
this painter
who couldn’t talk or tell anything
about what he
meant
looked like just about the happiest painter
in all the world
standing there
taking it all ‘in’
and reflecting
everything
in his great big
hungry Eye
but anyway
so it was I saw reflected there
four walls covered with pictures
of the leaning tower of Pisa
all of them leaning in different directions
five booths with tables
fifteen tables without booths
one bar
with one bartender looking like a
baseball champ
with a lot of naborhood trophies
hung up behind
three waitresses of various sizes and faces
one as big as a little fox terrier
one as large as a small sperm whale
one as strange as an angel
but all three
with the same eyes
one kitchendoor with one brother cook
standing in it
with the same eyes
and about
one hundredandsixtythree people all talking and waving and laughing and eating and drinking and smiling and frowning and shaking heads and opening mouths and putting forks and spoons in them and chewing and swallowing all kinds of produce and sitting back and relaxing maybe and drinking coffee and lighting cigarettes and getting up and so on
and so off
into the night
without ever noticing
the man with the mirrorhead
below the forgotten
plasterhead of DANTE
looking down
at everyone
with the same eyes
as if he were still searching
everywhere
for his lost Beatrice
but with just a touch
of devilish lipstick
on the very tip
of his nose
Ferlinghetti, Lawrence. "Not too long" from PICTURES of the gone world. City Lights Books 1955
If you have the first edition from 1955 it's worth about $3000. I have the 1971, sixteenth printing with a cover price of $1, purchased at a used bookstore 50 years later for $3.50. word
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