The Arts in New York City

As I read O’Hara’s poems, I’m noticing a trend in his writing: he seems to mention death, both obviously and subtly, quite often, and he changes his attitudes towards the subject in each of the poems; the more he writes, the more depressing the poems become. The poems that struck me in particular were “For James Dean,” “Thinking of James Dean,” and 4B of “Four Little Elegies.”

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I know this isn’t about O’Hara, but I stumbled across something rather interesting a few minutes ago… http://forum.guitarherogame.com/Default.aspx?g=posts&t=22179

Sonic Youth is in Guitar Hero 3! This is big news, you don’t get into a game like this out of nowhere. The featured song (it’s a master track, by the way) is Kool Thing, from their ‘90 album, Goo.

When I was a child

I played by myself in a

corner of the schoolyard

all alone.

I hated dolls and I

hated games, animals were

not friendly and birds

flew away.

If anyone was looking

for me I hid behind a

tree and I cried out “I am

an orphan.”

And here I am, the

center of all beauty!

writing these poems!

Imagine!

O’Hara, Collected poems, “Autobiographia Literaria”

I particularly like this poem because it is unique - it is one of the more literal poems that Frank O’Hara has written. It’s easy to understand and furthermore even easier to relate to. No matter our circumstances, whether it be obstacles in our early childhood (like the poem suggests) or situations that manifest later in life, we can all reach something greater, something beyond our initial expectations and limits. With enough determination any dream can be accomplished, and in the process touch as many lives as we see fit. One day, as the last stanza of the poem exemplifies, we can look back on our lives, and have a great appreciation for where we currently stand in the world and the mark we left upon it.

I took this poem to be as if it were a personal letter from O’Hara to either God or to some other person out there (perhaps a person who is “unattainable”, as it were). After having read his essay, “Personism: A Manifesto”, it became clear to me that not only did he not believe in God (thus invalidating my first reaction to the poem), but also that this poem is indeed the perfect embodiment of his philosophy of Personism. That is to say, to make your poetry as if it were addressing one specific person, thus making it more personal, and perhaps more endearing.

As I’ve said, I feel that this poem is a letter explaining to some unknown person why O’Hara was unable to reach them. The first phrase of the poem, “I wanted to be sure to reach you; though my ship was on the way it got caught in some moorings.”, seems to say “I wanted to see you, but problems prevented me from doing so.” The next line, “I am always tying up and then deciding to depart,” tells me that he seems to blame himself for his inability to get to his sought-after person; every time he gets near to this person, he pulls away. The rest of the poem says to me that even though he may not completely understand his situation, that he accepts it as fate, and that he trusts and accepts whatever fate will throw at him, as he has tried his hardest in life.

This is what the poem has meant to me, although I certainly don’t doubt that there could be more (or, perhaps even less) meaning there.

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