“The Ghost of Frank O’Hara” by John Yohe (original) (raw)

THE GHOST OF FRANK O’HARA

The ghost of Frank O’Hara taps me on

the shoulder whispering

and what about

the humor what about talks with the sun

and things that happen at the movies out

of sight of parents don’t forget the thirst

of being in Manhattan in the heat

and Coke the drink

remember too your first

love passion music though it might not come out

in words it’s there in you but I was sad

and said what good is humor in a poem

when people die Manhattan Fire Island

we

bought falafels which we thought weren’t bad

and walked to Central Park for space and some

children were laughing and he said ask them

—from Rattle #32, Winter 2009
Tribute to the Sonnet

__________

John Yohe: “I wrote this poem in late 2001 or early 2002, and found working within a form helped me say things I wouldn’t have normally said. I had been thinking about the 9/11 attacks, wondering how Frank O’Hara would have responded and, in the same way he talked to the sun, I decided to talk to him. The phrase ‘the ghost of Frank O’Hara’ was in iambic, the rest of the poem sort of flowed out.” (web)