frank o'hara (was: Osmosis & P's Gnostic Cosmoses)

[Lorentzen / Nicklaus]

otto schrieb: > don't know O'Hara


 

                      t w o   v a r i a t i o n s


 s u d d e n l y   t h a t   b o d y   a p p e a r s: i n   m y   s m o k e

 w h i l e   s o m e o n e's  h e a v i l y  d e s c r i b i n g  g r e e c e,
 
 t h a t   f a m o u s  m o n o t o n o u s   l i n e   f e e l s   w h i t e 

 a g a i n s t   t h e   t e n s i l e   g l o o m   o f   l i f e 

a n d  i  s e e m  i n t i m a t e  w i t h  w h a t  i  m e r e l y  t o u c h.



 1

 now i am not going to face things
 because i am not a start
 nor fall asleep against a heart
 that doesn't burn the wolves away,
 hunting and virtue beside an open fire.
 and you know if i drift into the sky
 it will be heavy as surf. 



 2

 i'm glad that the rock is heavy 
 and that it feels all right in my heart
 like an eye in a pot of humus.
 let's write long letters on grand themes,
 fish sandwiches, egg sandwiches and cheese;
 or travelling in mexico, italy and australia.
 i eat a lot so i won't get drunk and then
 i drink a lot so i'll feel excited
 and then i've gone away i don't know where
 or with whom and can't remember whom from
 except that i'm back with my paper bag
 and next time my face won't come with me.


        ------- frank o'hara ------- 


                                       (quoted from "lyrik der beat-generation",
                                         münchen 1985: heyne, p. 60)

 kai //:: ps: r.d. brinkmann translated o'hara's "lunch poems" brilliantly into 
 german, but this edition, containing also the originals, is unfortunately out 
 of print.