Like many of the important Beat writers, Lawrence Ferlinghetti continued writing throughout the sixties and beyond. He was widely read among the new hippies as his poetry came to reflect the changing times. In this late sixties collection, Ferlinghetti writes 'Assassination Raga' about the assassination of Robert Kennedy, 'Bickford's Buddha' about "observation fever," attempting to attain a Buddhist's perfect vision, and 'Through the Looking Glass' about ingesting LSD on a flight to India.