Dan's Reviews > Lunch Poems

Lunch Poems by Frank O’Hara (1964)

Here are my favorite half dozen of the thirty-seven poems in this collection. Many of these poems, perhaps all, were penned on O’Hara’s lunch hours while working in Manhattan. Some of the poems are hard to decipher contextually but the vast majority are straightforward enough for self-interpretation for a lay reader like myself.

1. A Step Away From Them - a wonderfully vivid and exemplary poem from the 1950’s as O’Hara walks around Manhattan on his lunch break just observing.

2. Song short rant on the dirtiness of the city figuratively and literally.

3. The Day Lady Died Perhaps his most famous poem. A beautiful elegy to Billie Holiday when she died of cirrhosis of the liver in 1959.

4. Personal Poem Another lunchtime errand poem, a little more reflective as the author wonders if anyone in the city is thinking of him.

5. Cornkind Author imagines his son taking his place in the world. He is concerned though that his son doesn’t appreciate historical figures like Bette Davis and Hart Crane. Will their legacies die with the people of their era.

6. Ave Maria A pitch to the mothers of America to let their children make mistakes even the more serious ones. Not sure I agree with the advice but thought provoking nonetheless.

4.5 stars. A great glimpse into a middle class man’s life who has an avant-garde perspective of the big city.