7 votes

Poetry analysis/appreciation request - Morning, by Frank O'Hara

I'm an undoubted pleb when it comes to just about everything artistic (with the exception of music, in which I have impeccable taste). A while back, I suggested I'd be interested in seeing some critique or general discussion of already-known or published poetry, if only so I could get others' opinions on things that usually go over my head. This is an effort to get the ball rolling, with a poem that is one of my favorites.

Also, I'm not sure if this belongs here or in ~arts, please classify as appropriate.


Morning - Frank O'Hara

I've got to tell you
how I love you always
I think of it on grey
mornings with death

in my mouth the tea
is never hot enough
then and the cigarette
dry the maroon robe

chills me I need you
and look out the window
at the noiseless snow

At night on the dock
the buses glow like
clouds and I am lonely
thinking of flutes

I miss you always
when I go to the beach
the sand is wet with
tears that seem mine

although I never weep
and hold you in my
heart with a very real
humor you'd be proud of

the parking lot is
crowded and I stand
rattling my keys the car
is empty as a bicycle

what are you doing now
where did you eat your
lunch and were there
lots of anchovies it

is difficult to think
of you without me in
the sentence you depress
me when you are alone

Last night the stars
were numerous and today
snow is their calling
card I'll not be cordial

there is nothing that
distracts me music is
only a crossword puzzle
do you know how it is

when you are the only
passenger if there is a
place further from me
I beg you do not go

4 comments

  1. culturedleftfoot
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    I really liked this from the first time I was sent it. I usually feel like I'm grasping at smoke when trying to understand most poems, but I felt like this one really captures the internal...

    I really liked this from the first time I was sent it. I usually feel like I'm grasping at smoke when trying to understand most poems, but I felt like this one really captures the internal monologue when ruminating on a lost lover, the tender ache that gets caught on mundane details. I think the rhythm of the poem (its meter?) has a lot to do with why I connect with it too; I'm very much a lyrics-and-flow person when it comes to a lot of my favorite music and this feels like it flows in the same sorta disjointed way thoughts kinda just pop into your mind.

    I'm not sure I can articulate much more beyond that, but I'd love to hear anyone else's thoughts, even if they don't get or like it.

    Edit: Just realized I also like the little wordplay in how certain lines are constructed, e.g. is it "how I love you always" or "always I think of it"? Is it "I miss you always" or is it "always when I go to the beach"? "grey mornings with death" (an absolutely dreary morning) or is it "with death in my mouth" (that stinky morning breath)? I'm very sure those are intentional, they're like little puns or double entendres.

    1 vote
  2. [3]
    cfabbro
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    For those like myself who prefer to listen to poems rather than just read them, here's the best I could find: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTOkLLrDYwk#t=9s I'm not particularly skilled at...

    For those like myself who prefer to listen to poems rather than just read them, here's the best I could find:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTOkLLrDYwk#t=9s

    I'm not particularly skilled at literary criticism, especially regarding poetry, but a few lines that I found particularly enjoyable and evocative were:

    and hold you in my heart with a very real humor you'd be proud of

    Last night the stars were numerous and today snow is their calling card

    if there is a place further from me I beg you do not go

    Overall it was a mixed bag for me though. I don't quite get the "car is empty as a bicycle" line, and "were there lots of anchovies" in the middle of the love poem really threw me off. :P

    1 vote
    1. [2]
      culturedleftfoot
      Link Parent
      There truly are some memorable bits in here. Personally, I've always really liked the anchovies line! I've always taken it as the writer reminiscing, like, "He/she always did like anchovies." Just...

      There truly are some memorable bits in here. Personally, I've always really liked the anchovies line! I've always taken it as the writer reminiscing, like, "He/she always did like anchovies." Just a little brushstroke of detail of the lover/relationship. It is kinda out of left field but I think that makes it even more effective. The bicycle line didn't really connect with me either but I just figured it's contrasting a bicycle as lonely with just one seat/person, while a four-seater car would feel full with just the two of them. And that last line really is killer, whew.

      It never even ocurred to me that some people would prefer to hear poetry rather than read it, so that's new and interesting to me. This audio version doesn't do it for me though, but I do think this might be a particularly difficult poem to read out loud and have the same impact. It lost all of that... haltingness? that I like and sounds more like a paragraph. The result feels flattened from 3D to 2D.

      1 vote
      1. cfabbro
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        Link Parent
        Yeah, I get why the anchovies were mentioned, but to my mind an anchovy is a rather pungent and unpleasant fish, so mentioning it really broke the flow, and broke my immersion, due to my...

        Yeah, I get why the anchovies were mentioned, but to my mind an anchovy is a rather pungent and unpleasant fish, so mentioning it really broke the flow, and broke my immersion, due to my instinctive "ew, gross" response. LOL

        As for listening vs reading, it really depends on the poet and poem for me. Some I like to read myself (e.g. Rumi and Frost), but many I prefer to listen to. E.g. Shakespeare's sonnets and plays I much prefer to listen to, likely due to the archaic language and iambic pentameter still throwing me off even after all these years. And similarly, in this one I found the "haltingness" of the original structure it was written in to be incredibly annoying, as it too was difficult for me to wrap my head around. On several rereads I'm sure I could get the hang of it, but requiring that is asking a lot of me by a poet, IMO.