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Tag Archives: Frank O’Hara
“The purpose of an artist, whatever it is, is to take the life, whatever he sees, and to raise it up to an elevated position where it has dignity.” — William Carlos Williams
“No ideas but in things.” – from “Paterson”, by William Carlos Williams The first poems I read of William Carlos Williams, in high school English class, were the red wheelbarrow one and the one about the plums. I imagine that’s … Continue reading
“[My ambition is to] give something to our literature which will be our own.” — Walt Whitman
“I like to think that eventually he will shame us into becoming Americans again.” — Guy Davenport on Walt Whitman Whitman is the organizing principle behind my review of Martin Scorsese’s Rolling Thunder Revue. Bob Dylan quotes Whitman all the … Continue reading
Posted in Books, On This Day, writers
Tagged Algernon Charles Swinburne, Allen Ginsberg, Bob Dylan, Camille Paglia, Elizabeth Bishop, Emily Dickinson, Ezra Pound, Frank O'Hara, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Harold Bloom, Hart Crane, Henry David Thoreau, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Baldwin, Michael Schmidt, Oscar Wilde, poetry, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman, William Carlos Williams
5 Comments
“Attention equals Life.” — Frank O’Hara
“I am the least difficult of men. All I want is boundless love.” – poet Frank O’Hara It’s his birthday today. First up: I launched my column at Film Comment with a piece about American poet Frank O’Hara’s love of … Continue reading
Posted in Books, On This Day, writers
Tagged Camille Paglia, Elizabeth Bishop, Frank O'Hara, Joan Acocella, Lana Turner, Michael Schmidt
18 Comments
“No two people on earth are alike, and it’s got to be that way in music or it isn’t music..” — Billie Holiday
It’s her birthday today. Here is Frank O’Hara’s poem called “The Day Lady Died.” Notice that he doesn’t say her name. The Day Lady Died It is 12:20 in New York a Friday three days after Bastille day, yes it … Continue reading
Year in Review: Running my mouth in 2019
Thanks, everyone, who hangs out here, who likes what I do, whether you’re an Elvis fan, a Supernatural fan, a general cinephile, a book-lover, or just someone who’s been checking in periodically for 17 years – WHAT? – I appreciate … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, James Joyce, Movies, Television
Tagged Agnes Varda, animation, Anna Karina, backting, Badlands, Belfast, Bibi Andersson, Bob Dylan, Bong Joon-Ho, Canada, Charlotte Rampling, comedy, Dennis Hopper, documentary, Doris Day, drama, Dubliners, Elvis Presley, Emily Dickinson, Frank O'Hara, friends, Gaspar Noe, George Stevens, Gold Diggers of 1933, horror, Ireland, Jean Arthur, Joanna Hogg, Joe Berlinger, Joel McCrea, John Ford, Kristen Stewart, Leonardo DiCaprio, Linda Manz, Marlon Brando, Martin Scorsese, Mary Oliver, Matthias Schoenaerts, Myrna Loy, Nick Nolte, Nick Tosches, Nicolas Roeg, Out of the Blue, Paraguay, Paul Thomas Anderson, poetry, Poland, Present Tense, Robert Evans, Sandrine Bonnaire, sci-fi, Sophia Takal, Sucker Punch, Supernatural, Sylvia Plath, Terrence Malick, Tom Noonan, What Happened Was, William Powell, Willie Nelson, women directors, year in writing, Zac Efron
1 Comment
Introducing “Present Tense,” my column at Film Comment
So yes it’s been an eventful month. Nicolas Rapold, editor-in-chief at Film Comment, asked me to write a regular column for them. It is a huge honor. It’s going to be focused on … whatever I want to focus on, … Continue reading
March 2019 Viewing Diary
Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World (2017; d. Catherine Bainbridge) Mum came and visited me and we watched this amazing documentary about the contributions Native Americans have made to music. It starts with Link Wray. I loved this documentary … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Al Pacino, Brian De Palma, Chile, Dean Stockwell, Diane Keaton, Dustin Hoffman, Ellen Burstyn, England, Faye Dunaway, Francis Ford Coppola, Frank O'Hara, Italy, Jack Nicholson, Jill Clayburgh, Joanna Hogg, John Cazale, Julianne Moore, Kristen Stewart, Laura Dern, Link Wray, Marlon Brando, Martin Scorsese, Meryl Streep, Mike Nichols, Quantum Leap, Robert De Niro, Robert Redford, Roy Scheider, Supernatural, women directors, Woody Allen
26 Comments
The Books: Twenty-Eight Artists and Two Saints, ‘Perfectly Frank’, by Joan Acocella
On the essays shelf: Twenty-eight Artists and Two Saints: Essays by Joan Acocella. Unlike a lot of poets, I feel that I know everything I need to know about Frank O’Hara by reading his work. He emerges, there, on the … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged essays, Frank O'Hara, Joan Acocella, Twenty-Eight Artists and Two Saints
3 Comments
The Books: “The Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry” – Frank O’Hara
Daily Book Excerpt: Poetry The Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry, Volume 2: Contemporary Poetry, edited by Jahan Ramazani, Richard Ellmann, and Robert O’Clair I’ve moved on from the “Modern” volume, and am now in the “Contemporary” volume. The … Continue reading