Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s poem "Third World Calling" intertwines surreal imagery with political commentary to reflect on global inequalities and personal detachment. In a few stanzas, Ferlinghetti weaves together a vivid narrative that critiques complacency while exploring the dissonance between the global "Third World" and the relative comfort of the "First World."

The poem opens with a powerful contrast: "This loud morning / sensed a small cry in the news / paper / caught somewhere on an inner page." The "loud morning" suggests the noise of daily life, but this din obscures a "small cry" buried deep within the newspaper. This cry represents the urgent but often overlooked plight of the Third World, marginalized within the global conversation.

The narrator tries to escape the complexity of this cry by seeking lunch in a mundane, mechanized environment: "I / decide to travel for lunch & end up in an automat / White House Cafeteria / looking thru a little window put a nickel in the slot and out comes / fried rice." Here, the "White House Cafeteria" and the automatic food dispenser suggest a sterile, disconnected world where global issues are reduced to a matter of convenience.

As the narrator continues his "tour / of the rest of that building," he hears "a small cry / beyond the rice paddies / between floors where / the escalator sticks." The cry is linked to "rice paddies," metaphorically representing impoverished rural areas of the Third World. However, the escalator getting stuck symbolizes the socioeconomic barriers that prevent upward mobility and reinforce global disparities.

In the closing lines, the poem takes a surreal turn as the narrator recalls a dream from the previous night: "last night's dream of attending my own funeral at a drive-in mortuary not really believing / I was that dead." This vivid image evokes the Western world's detached and passive response to global suffering, as though witnessing a funeral from a distance while insulated in a car. The narrator’s disbelief at his own death parallels society’s inability to recognize its role in perpetuating global inequalities.

"Third World Calling" ultimately critiques the ease with which the First World ignores the suffering of others. Ferlinghetti uses the "small cry" to symbolize the muted voices of marginalized people while employing surreal imagery to illustrate the disconnection between privilege and poverty. Through the poem, Ferlinghetti urges readers to acknowledge the disparity, to hear the small cry amid the noise, and to confront the uncomfortable realities of global inequality.

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