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My Heart by Frank O’Hara

My Heart
Frank O'Hara

I’m not going to cry all the time
nor shall I laugh all the time,
I don’t prefer one “strain” to another.
I’d have the immediacy of a bad movie,
not just a sleeper, but also the big,
overproduced first-run kind. I want to be
at least as alive as the vulgar. And if
some aficionado of my mess says “That’s
not like Frank!”, all to the good! I
don’t wear brown and grey suits all the time,
do I? No. I wear workshirts to the opera,
often. I want my feet to be bare,
I want my face to be shaven, and my heart—
you can’t plan on the heart, but
the better part of it, my poetry, is open.

MARGINALIA

Home, finally. Taking a deep breath. Settling in my bed. Good night.

KEEP READING

This is from The Selected Poems of Frank O’Hara

SHARED WITH GRATITUDE

This poem appeared in This is from The Selected Poems of Frank O’Hara edited by Donald Allen, published by Vintage Books, 1974. (Available on: Amazon • Bookshop)

ABOUT FRANK O'HARA

Frank (Francis Russell) O’Hara was born in Maryland on March 27, 1926. O’Hara’s early work was considered both provocative and provoking. In 1952, his first volume of poetry, A City Winter, and Other Poems, attracted favorable attention; his essays on painting and sculpture and his reviews for ArtNews were considered brilliant. O’Hara became one of the most distinguished members of the New York School of poets, which also included Ashbery, James Schuyler, and Kenneth… (more)

Read more poems by Frank O'Hara • Find books by this poet on Amazon • Bookshop • Or view my library

ENDNOTES

Comments (2)

  • Edel

    nice!!! its real and not faked… i like it.

    reply
  • Saarah

    I Love the realness of O’Hara’s poetry, it allows me to connect to his poems in such an everyday, real, ordinary way that I don’t find in anyone else’s poetry.

    reply

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