A poem, a trial and a landmark decision that changed America forever.

PORNO OR POEM!

Howl!

65 years ago, Judge Clayton W. Horn’s ruled that Allen Ginsberg’s groundbreaking HOWL was not obscene.

I wondered about that.

Why was it even considered obscene?

What’s parts of the poem were they referring to?

I’ve read Howl! Lots of time. I don’t remember any obscene bits.

FELON!

Lawrence Ferlinghetti had always been interested in poetry. As a young man, he considered becoming a priest. But when he met Allen Ginsberg, all that changed. Ginsberg introduced him to the Beat movement, and Lawrence was hooked.

He opened his own bookstore, City Lights, in San Francisco in 1951. It was the perfect place for the Beat poets to gather and share their work. Ferlinghetti was always supportive of his artists, and he published Allen Ginsberg’s groundbreaking poem Howl in 1956.

Not everyone agreed with Ferlinghetti’s liberal attitudes or his support of free speech. When 520 copies of Howl arrived from England…