Your poem made me go back and read some O’Hara. I’ve had to read them on the internet since my books are packed up right now, but I agree with your choice of his poems. Those are awesome.
“Why I’m Not A Painter” has become one of my favorites.
It always makes me smile at the end.
I always think of that painting “Sardines” by Michael Goldberg. I was actually thinking of it today with my doodle on Instagram. Specifically, I love the part where O’Hara says, “You have SARDINES in it,” and Goldberg replies, “Yes, it needed something there.” There’s something uncomplicated and innocent about it, like creativity is just a thing that happens and maybe we make too much of it. It persists, even though later O’Hara asks “Where’s SARDINES?” and Mike says, “It was too much.”
haiku streak 
An allusion to Frank O’Hara. Nice.
Yes! I was hoping someone would note the connection. He’s one of my favorites. That poem is one of my favorites, along with “Why I’m Not A Painter” and “A True Account of Talking to the Sun on Fire Island” and quite a few others.
Aspiring to being the Frank O’Hara of haiku writers wouldn’t be so bad.
Thanks for visiting and commenting! –D
Your poem made me go back and read some O’Hara. I’ve had to read them on the internet since my books are packed up right now, but I agree with your choice of his poems. Those are awesome.
“Why I’m Not A Painter” has become one of my favorites.
It always makes me smile at the end.
I always think of that painting “Sardines” by Michael Goldberg. I was actually thinking of it today with my doodle on Instagram. Specifically, I love the part where O’Hara says, “You have SARDINES in it,” and Goldberg replies, “Yes, it needed something there.” There’s something uncomplicated and innocent about it, like creativity is just a thing that happens and maybe we make too much of it. It persists, even though later O’Hara asks “Where’s SARDINES?” and Mike says, “It was too much.”
“Trying too hard” is a major fault of many (most?) artists…and possibly of whole movements…
I’m totally down for “uncomplicated and innocent”.