O’Hara: Time to make
August 13, 2008 12:11 pm Poetry43 Folders has been doing a series on making time to make things, and followed up today with a post about Frank O’Hara’s Lunch Poems. Productivity blog + poetry? I think I may have just had a geek nirvana moment.
Kenneth Burke called literature equipment for living, and O’Hara never put his away. He was always making. Sometimes poems, sometimes friends.
He has a slim book of work called Lunch Poems, and you might think of that as his primary mode of composition. While out walking from the museum to get lunch, he’d do a poem. Maybe he’d type it up and stick it in a drawer later.
I think that may be an oversimplification of O’Hara’s process, but who can say for sure? What is certain is that O’Hara had a true gift for capturing the beauty of the colloquial and trivial, and it’s no coincidence that he was a poet who remained immersed in the world of work, firmly rooted in the everyday experience and not some artistic or romantic ideal, remaining engaged not to promote his work but to create it.
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August 14th, 2008 at 8:24 am
I’m actually reading “Lunch Poems” right now and it is a fascinating little book
really gives you a good insight, as well, how to structure a small book.
August 14th, 2008 at 8:42 am
One of the best classes I had at Warren Wilson delved deeply into these poems… the complexity and careful making astounded me when I really got under the hood. Part of me hopes that O’Hara really did write these completely within a lunch hour, because that’s just dead brilliant. The part of me that fights with a poem for years would be terribly jealous if that were the case.
But I must say, I don’t think I gave enough consideration to how the poems were put together as a book. Do you have some insights you can share?
August 15th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
Ross,
Thanks so much for your comment about the Esquire story. I really appreciate it.
And about this post: Frank O’Hara sure is getting a lot of press lately. I came across something at Bookslut the other day that said O’Hara’s book sales went up 218% after one of his poems was recited on Mad Men.
August 15th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
Ladybug and I just got season 1 of Mad Men on DVD and are eagerly awaiting it. Any TV show that increases poetry sales is good by me!
August 15th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Mad Men is really pretty excellent. My wife and I are waiting for Netflix to send us the last disc of season one. Then we’re hoping to watch some replays of the first few episodes of season two so that we can get caught up.
We’re a little addicted.
August 21st, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Hmmm…I didn’t take a specific course on it but the book was suggested to me given the direction some of my newer work was taking.
It is, I think, a great way to look at how to fashion a small book and/or chapbook because (see I don’t have it in front of me) he goes from very wide views of the city to very minute situtations that are almost in jokes. And yet, the poems with the “in jokes” end up being so much fun to read because he has already developed this voice with the “larger view” poems.
Now, I’m thinking I need to re-read them and give this even more thought!
hey, btw saw the Tara yesterday
all happily married and stuff.