Reviews

Meditations in an Emergency by Frank O'Hara

btmarino84's review against another edition

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5.0

About 3/4 through reading this I put it down and didn't pick it back up again until last week for some reason. I found myself connecting more with it at this time and went back and re-read some of the earlier poems. I like his musical style, even if I remain "bad at poetry". I had planned to be reading a book of poetry every month or so this year, I'd like to try that again in 2018, though maybe every two months or so. Hopefully I can keep on myself about it.

veryperi22's review against another edition

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I put this on my "to- read" list because Don Draper was reading it.

Alas, I don't understand poetry.
A biography of Frank O'hara, on the other hand, will probably fascinate me.

kelly_virginia's review against another edition

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reflective fast-paced

3.75

macy_d's review against another edition

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reflective

4.75

gailinapail's review against another edition

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5.0

I am the least difficult of men. All I want is boundless love.

moony_reads_'s review against another edition

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emotional reflective fast-paced

2.75

justabookholic's review against another edition

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1.0

1.5 stars

It had started out moderately promising but then pandered to the baser forms of expression, specifically, fetishizing other ethnicities and the use of coded, racist language as well as the actual slur of "Chinamen". Even beyond the use of problematic language, there was underwhelming quality to the prose that felt uninspired and what I can only describe as proto-edgelord.

(I only picked this up for a concept video idea but honestly, I wonder if this collection is even worth mentioning.)

stefania_c's review against another edition

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5.0

P. Auster me ne aveva fatto innamorare citando una sua poesia in “4321” e io sono debole, quindi ho preso questa sua raccolta e niente lo amo ora.

O’Hara faceva parte della corrente poetica “New York School” (stesso nome della corrente artistica) quando non era curatore del MoMA, quindi si parla di espressionismo-astratto.
Sulla sua tela poetica lui getta tutto quello che vede e sente,

« “I’d give a lempira or two / to have it all slapped onto a / canvas” » - A Terrestrial Cuckoo

c’è però una ciclicità tematica: il parlare di avvenimenti quotidiani e non, con un lessico che va dal più aulico al più bambinesco;
il partire dal narrare del suo muoversi nel mondo che lo circonda e arrivare a strati di analisi più profondi, come della vita in contatto con la morte (che ne è parte integrante) ad esempio, e di come percepisce sé stesso.
[N.B. Le poesie ad aprire la raccolta e a chiuderla sono: “To The Harbormaster”, “Poem: To the eager note on my door” e “Mayakovsky”]

A me ha colpito il suo sguardo indiretto sulle cose del mondo e il suo modo di raccontarle con una forma inizialmente mantenuta e più tardi presente solo nello scheletro poiché aggiunge strati di interpretazione, di pensieri.
Mi ha ricordato il mio amato Calvino.

thewasteland's review against another edition

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emotional fast-paced

4.0

motifenjoyer's review against another edition

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2.0

i am SHOCKED that getting recs from don draper has led me astray