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      February 8, 2024The Ghost of Frank O’HaraJohn Yohe

      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 #32 - Winter 2009

      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.”

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