The glory that is

[Angeline]

Frank O'Hara

A TRUE ACCOUNT OF TALKING TO THE SUN AT FIRE ISLAND

The Sun woke me this morning loud
and clear, saying "Hey! I've been
trying to wake you up for fifteen
minutes. Don't be so rude, you are
only the second poet I've ever chosen
to speak to personally
so why
aren't you more attentive? If I could
burn you through the window I would
to wake you up. I can't hang around
here all day."
"Sorry, Sun, I stayed
up late last night talking to Hal."

"When I woke up Mayakovsky he was
a lot more prompt" the Sun said
petulantly. "Most people are up
already waiting to see if I'm going
to put in an appearance."
I tried
to apologize "I missed you yesterday."
"That's better" he said. "I didn't
know you'd come out." "You may be
wondering why I've come so close?"
"Yes" I said beginning to feel hot
wondering if maybe he wasn't burning me
anyway.
"Frankly I wanted to tell you
I like your poetry. I see a lot
on my rounds and you're okay. You may
not be the greatest thing on earth, but
you're different. Now, I've heard some
say you're crazy, they being excessively
calm themselves to my mind, and other
crazy poets think that you're a boring
reactionary. Not me.
Just keep on
like I do and pay no attention. You'll
find that people always will complain
about the atmosphere, either too hot
or too cold too bright or too dark, days
too short or too long.
If you don't appear
at all one day they think you're lazy
or dead. Just keep right on, I like it.

And don't worry about your lineage
poetic or natural. The Sun shines on
the jungle, you know, on the tundra
the sea, the ghetto. Wherever you were
I knew it and saw you moving. I was waiting
for you to get to work.

And now that you
are making your own days, so to speak,
even if no one reads you but me
you won't be depressed. Not
everyone can look up, even at me. It
hurts their eyes."
"Oh Sun, I'm so grateful to you!"

"Thanks and remember I'm watching. It's
easier for me to speak to you out
here. I don't have to slide down
between buildings to get your ear.
I know you love Manhattan, but
you ought to look up more often.
And
always embrace things, people earth
sky stars, as I do, freely and with
the appropriate sense of space. That
is your inclination, known in the heavens
and you should follow it to hell, if
necessary, which I doubt.
Maybe we'll
speak again in Africa, of which I too
am specially fond. Go back to sleep now
Frank, and I may leave a tiny poem
in that brain of yours as my farewell."

"Sun, don't go!" I was awake
at last. "No, go I must, they're calling
me."
"Who are they?"
Rising he said "Some
day you'll know. They're calling to you
too." Darkly he rose, and then I slept.


[1958]

 

[greenmountaineer]

This poem makes me want to read more of O'Hara's work.

Using the sun in such a convivial and conversational way made the poem a delight for me, and I was also reminded of innocence, perhaps more because I associate Fire Island with the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in America back in the mid-seventies, although the poem was written in 1958. I'm not suggesting O'Hara was clairvoyant, but I felt a sadness after reading the last stanza for that reason.

 

[UnderYourSpell]

One thing that leapt out at me was always being watched which actually is a something I've been turning over in my mind but in a more sinister way

 

[greenmountaineer]

One thing that leapt out at me was always being watched which actually is a something I've been turning over in my mind but in a more sinister way

The last stanza or the entire poem?

 

[Angeline]

1951

Alone at night
in the wet city

the country's wit
is not memorable.

The wind has blown
all the trees down

but these anxieties
remain erect, being

the heart's deliberate
chambers of hurt

and fear whether
from a green apartment

seeming diamonds or
from an airliner

seeming fields. It's
not simple or tidy

though in rows of
rows and numbered;

the literal drifts
colorfully and

the hair is combed
with bridges, all

compromises leap
to stardom and lights.

If alone I am
able to love it,

the serious voices,
the panic of jobs,

it is sweet to me.
Far from burgeoning

verdure, the hard way
in this street.


Frank O'Hara

 

[GuiltyPleasure]

I wonder what 1201 would have made of this.....or Anonymous for that matter....if it had appeared in Lit by an unknown writer.

TODAY

by Frrank O'Hara.


Oh! kangaroos, sequins, chocolate sodas!
You really are beautiful! Pearls,
harmonicas, jujubes, aspirins! all
the stuff they've always talked about

still makes a poem a surprise!
These things are with us every day
even on beachheads and biers. They
do have meaning. They're strong as rocks.

[1950]

 

[Angeline]

I wonder what 1201 would have made of this.....or Anonymous for that matter....if it had appeared in Lit by an unknown writer.

TODAY

by Frrank O'Hara.


Oh! kangaroos, sequins, chocolate sodas!
You really are beautiful! Pearls,
harmonicas, jujubes, aspirins! all
the stuff they've always talked about

still makes a poem a surprise!
These things are with us every day
even on beachheads and biers. They
do have meaning. They're strong as rocks.

[1950]

I'd be interested in hearing what 1201 thinks of this poetry, too. I really like what O'Hara does with lines. For example, in this poem you posted, almost all the end of line words have at least one strong vowel which seems to emphasize rock like strength.

 

[UnderYourSpell]

The last stanza or the entire poem?

All of it's about being watched

 

[twelveoone]

I wonder what 1201 would have made of this.....or Anonymous for that matter....if it had appeared in Lit by an unknown writer.

TODAY

by Frrank O'Hara.


Oh! kangaroos, sequins, chocolate sodas!
You really are beautiful! Pearls,
harmonicas, jujubes, aspirins! all
the stuff they've always talked about

still makes a poem a surprise!
These things are with us every day
even on beachheads and biers. They
do have meaning. They're strong as rocks.

[1950]

Seriously, once I wrote crap like this, nowadays I write crap a different way.
I like Frank. It was tough finding the voice. Once you crack the voice, the meaning comes though. This one, the line "still makes a poem a surprise!" I could do without, really, you just did and now you're telling us about it.


I would have phrased things a little different

even on the beachheads and the biers.
They all have meaning! They're strong as rocks.

But Frank's a better poet.

Since you asked, and I just happened to find.
Who the hell cares what 1201 thinks.

 

[Angeline]

Seriously, once I wrote crap like this, nowadays I write crap a different way.
I like Frank. It was tough finding the voice. Once you crack the voice, the meaning comes though. This one, the line "still makes a poem a surprise!" I could do without, really, you just did and now you're telling us about it.


I would have phrased things a little different

even on the beachheads and the biers.
They all have meaning! They're strong as rocks.

But Frank's a better poet.

Since you asked, and I just happened to find.
Who the hell cares what 1201 thinks.

I do! Betcha I like Frank more than you do, too! But I do hate to see a pronoun hanging at the end of a line. Always looks orphan-like to me. Little Orphan Pronoun.

 

[Maria2394]

Dear Angeline-

Great to see you

I have enjoyed reading the discussion about his poetry, and just feel the need to stick my 2 cents in.

The first of his you posted about the sun, if I had come across that on lit, I would have back-clicked. I have written (w)ramblings like that and been one bombed to hell and back, gotten some really rude FB and such and it didn't bother me because this place has taught me to thicken my skin. But I find it 'funny" how someone famous can publish work like that and be practically worshiped and others gag at the first three lines. Like I did.

Anyway, I enjoyed the rest of the poems that have been posted by Tess and the rest of you guys and gals. I personally find the first poem hilariously childlike and boring and someone here taught me not to write like that,..,can't remember who it was, but I think he had some numbers in his name.

peace be with y'all.



julie

 

[Angeline]

Dear Angeline-

Great to see you

I have enjoyed reading the discussion about his poetry, and just feel the need to stick my 2 cents in.

The first of his you posted about the sun, if I had come across that on lit, I would have back-clicked. I have written (w)ramblings like that and been one bombed to hell and back, gotten some really rude FB and such and it didn't bother me because this place has taught me to thicken my skin. But I find it 'funny" how someone famous can publish work like that and be practically worshiped and others gag at the first three lines. Like I did.

Anyway, I enjoyed the rest of the poems that have been posted by Tess and the rest of you guys and gals. I personally find the first poem hilariously childlike and boring and someone here taught me not to write like that,..,can't remember who it was, but I think he had some numbers in his name.

peace be with y'all.



julie

Hello dear poet chick.

I believe certain poets are really good at idiom and writing in an authentic-sounding voice (and that is not imho easy, not for me anyway). O'Hara is one of them, sorta like Ted Berrigan, who was a huge fan of O'Hara (and one can see the influence in Berrigan's poems).

As for here, most feedback is helpful, some not and if I second guess myself too much I'll succumb to lit poetry forum-itis: that if I write a certain way, it can't be good. So I try to take it all with a grain of salt, speaking of idioms.

 

[Maria2394]

Hello dear poet chick.

I believe certain poets are really good at idiom and writing in an authentic-sounding voice (and that is not imho easy, not for me anyway). O'Hara is one of them, sorta like Ted Berrigan, who was a huge fan of O'Hara (and one can see the influence in Berrigan's poems).

As for here, most feedback is helpful, some not and if I second guess myself too much I'll succumb to lit poetry forum-itis: that if I write a certain way, it can't be good. So I try to take it all with a grain of salt, speaking of idioms.

I MISS you! and think about you everyday. when I see a cloud shaped like a castle, or the sun slipping behind it, or a person who looks like you or is kind like you, hell, i just miss you sweet Lady. hugs

~ j

ps, would that be coarse grained sea salt or non iodized?

love you sweetie

 

[Angeline]

I MISS you! and think about you everyday. when I see a cloud shaped like a castle, or the sun slipping behind it, or a person who looks like you or is kind like you, hell, i just miss you sweet Lady. hugs

~ j

ps, would that be coarse grained sea salt or non iodized?

love you sweetie

Sea salt! I am making ice cream sandwiches with oatmeal chocolate chip cookies that are thin and crispy with a bit of sea salt. And homemade vanilla bean frozen custard. We have a house full of kids tonight and I've been cooking all day. Yes, it's fun, um sometimes.

I still recall reading your first poems here and thinking "she's a keeper." And I told you that, too. Remember? Didn't you and Neo start writing here on the forum around the same time?

xxoo