Friday, April 4, 2008


To celebrate April, National Poetry month
A poem I love.
It is not short but not long. hope you enjoy.


Having a Coke With You


is even more fun than going top San Sebastain, Irun, 
Hendaye, Biarritz, Bayonne
or being sick to my stomach on the Travesera de Gracia in 
Barcelona
partly because in your orange shirt you look like a better
happier St. Sebastian 
partly because of my love for you, partly because of your
love for yoghurt
partly because of the fluoresent orange tulips around the
birches
partly because of the secrecy our smiles take on before 
people and statuary
it is hard to believe when I'm with you that there can be 
anything as still
as solemn as unpleasently definitive as statuary when right 
in front of it
in the warm New York 4 o'clock light we are drifting back 
and forth
between each other like a tree breathing through its 
spectacles

and the portrait show seems to have no faces in it at all, just 
paint
you suddenly wonder why in the world anyone ever did 
them 
I look
at you and I would rather look at you than all the portraits 
in the world
except possibly for the "Polish Rider" occasionally and anyway 
it's in the Frick
which thank heavens you haven't gone to yet so we can go 
together the first time
and the fact that you move so beautifully more or less takes 
care of Futurism
just as at home I never think of the "Nude Descending a 
Staircase" or
at a rehearsal a single drawing of Leonardo or Michaelangleo 
that used to wow me
and what good does all the research of the impressionists 
do them
when they never got the right person to stand near the tree 
when the sun sank
or for that matter Marino Marini when he didn't pick the 
rider as carefully
as the horse

it seems they were all cheated of some 
marvelous experience
which is not going to go wasted on me which is why I'm 
telling you about it


Frank O'Hara
for some more Frank go here.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting this wonderful poem. I'm going to follow your lead and go post something in honor of poetry month on my blog too!