Ferlinghetti believes the new America that is ruled by corporations is not the true America. Instead, he ironically speaks of a "new Empire" that is "vaster" but not greater than past empires. Ferlinghetti suggests that the new American empire has technological ("electronic highways") and economic ("corporate") power. But it does not have a culture of any worth or value ("carrying its corporate monoculture/ around the world"). As a result, American society is lost. This is why Ferlinghetti asks the Sybil to "save" the American people:
And tell us how to save us from ourselves and how to survive our own rulers who would make a plutocracy of our democracy
He also asks the Sybil to awaken Americans by speaking in a "poet's voice" and asks her to reinvigorate America's culture:
the voice of the people mixedwith a wild soft laughter—And give us new dreams to dream, Give us new myths to live by!
