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A review by jonfaith
The Collected Poems of Frank O'Hara by Frank O'Hara
4.0
so come the winds into our lives and last
longer than despair's sharp snake, crushed before it conquered
so marvelous is not just a poet's greenish namesake
and we live outside his garden in pure tempestuous rights
Frank O'Hara was a sensual man. His appetites and appreciations are rather evident. Emblazoned, if you will. This massive tome affords the reader a vantage, a portal to a life one of both privilege and scorn. It is a cultured and urban window: the natural world arrives largely through sand in the poet's swim trunks. The content is very uneven in form and likely quality. It is this erratic quality which makes all the more autobiographical, regardless of such violating accepted critical standards. I kept leering, looking for Gotham cultural overlaps with Arendt and McCarthy. It was a fascinating experience, very emotive even when O'Hara is providing a "I did this and then I did that" sort of lyrical exercise.
And someone you love enters the room
and says wouldn't
you like the eggs a little
different today?
And when they arrive they are
just plain scrambled eggs and the warm weather
is holding.
I feel enriched by this. Despite a certain aversion to the dedicated composer I felt O'Hara's celebratory poems in honor of Rachmaninov's birthday to be especially effective paens to creation. There is much about music and painting. There is also a reverence to his fellow poets and authors. Pasternak especially is a force to behold and the essay regarding the Russian poet such should be better know.
longer than despair's sharp snake, crushed before it conquered
so marvelous is not just a poet's greenish namesake
and we live outside his garden in pure tempestuous rights
Frank O'Hara was a sensual man. His appetites and appreciations are rather evident. Emblazoned, if you will. This massive tome affords the reader a vantage, a portal to a life one of both privilege and scorn. It is a cultured and urban window: the natural world arrives largely through sand in the poet's swim trunks. The content is very uneven in form and likely quality. It is this erratic quality which makes all the more autobiographical, regardless of such violating accepted critical standards. I kept leering, looking for Gotham cultural overlaps with Arendt and McCarthy. It was a fascinating experience, very emotive even when O'Hara is providing a "I did this and then I did that" sort of lyrical exercise.
And someone you love enters the room
and says wouldn't
you like the eggs a little
different today?
And when they arrive they are
just plain scrambled eggs and the warm weather
is holding.
I feel enriched by this. Despite a certain aversion to the dedicated composer I felt O'Hara's celebratory poems in honor of Rachmaninov's birthday to be especially effective paens to creation. There is much about music and painting. There is also a reverence to his fellow poets and authors. Pasternak especially is a force to behold and the essay regarding the Russian poet such should be better know.