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Question:

What does the poem 'I am waiting' by Lawrence Ferlinghetti mean?

This is how it starts:

I am waiting for my case to come up
and I am waiting
for a rebirth of wonder
and I am waiting for someone
to really discover America...

and so and so on....
please someone help me im really confused and i have to write a paper bout it!!!


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

To understand the poem you should understand from what point of view the author is writing. Please see this site http://www.citylights.com/cllf.html...
It has a wealth of information on this author, his background and education as well as the fact that he tends to write on political themes. Read a couple of his other recent poems and you may begin to come to an understanding of this one.
Here also is an interview with the author http://www.sanfranciscoreader.com/interv...
again, read the interview or portions of it for a deeper understanding of the man and perhaps his points of view on the world around him and what things he is passionate about in life.
From what I see in the poem and all those things he lists that he is waiting for, they typicially depict American icons, or if you like the "American Dream". I think perhaps a part of the poem was well could be about the excuses society makes as well as creates for not upholding, establishing and thus realizing the actual American Dream and ideals.