In Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s first “Populist Manifesto,” he called for “a new wide-open poetry/with a new commonsensual public surface’’ which still retains “subjective and/or subversive depth.” In Landscapes of Living & Dying, the poet has himself answered that call. As a result, most of these poems have already appeared on the Op/Ed pages or in the news sections of major metropolitan dailies, and this fact alone makes the book unique among new poetry collections. When the San Francisco Examiner published ’’An Elegy to Dispel Gloom’’ it named Ferlinghetti the ’’poet laureate of San Francisco.’’ Despite such acclaim, he continues to view the American scene with rage and despair, compassion, tenderness, and humor.