A poem always has elements of accident about it, which can be made the subject of inquest afterwards, but there is always a risk in conducting your own inquest: you might begin to believe the coroner in yourself rather than put your trust in the man in you who is capable of the accident.

--Seamus Heaney

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Frank O’Hara (1926 – 1966)

Frank O’Hara belonged to the New York School of modern poets, which included John Ashbery; he was as much involved with modern art as with poetry, and actually served as a curator at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. His well-rounded artistic background included attendance at the New England Conservatory of Music, and a two-year stint at Art News magazine. O’Hara’s first collection of poetry, A City Winter—a slim pamphlet of twelve poems and five sonnets—was published in 1952 by the Tibor de Nagy Gallery rather than by a conventional publisher. He wrote a long (520 lines) poem called “Second Avenue” in 1953, and his first book of poems, Meditations in an Emergency, was published in 1957. He preoccupation with death continues in his later books of poetry. In 1967 the Museum of Modern Art published a memorial book of his work, illustrated by his artist friends. His poetry was not yet fully recognized when he was killed in a car accident in 1966, but the publication of Collected Poems in 1980 sealed his reputation as a writer of direct, accessible, inventive poetry.

--From Poetry Speaks

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My parents and my aunt are trying to work out having me stay at one of their North Carolina houses in October while they are away. This would be a good alternative to a writer’s colony.

My promotion at work is official. I’ll have one employee reporting to me, and I’ll see the pay increase in my next earnings statement!