Meditations in an Emergency by Frank O'hara

Meditations in an Emergency by Frank O'hara

Collected poems from one of the Twentieth Century's most influential voices. Frank O’Hara was one of the great poets of the twentieth century and, along with such widely acclaimed writers as Denise Levertov, Allen Ginsberg, Robert Creeley, and Gary Snyder, a crucial contributor to what Donald Allen termed the New American Poetry, “which, by its vitality alone, became the dominant force in the American poetic tradition.” Frank O’Hara was born in Baltimore in 1926 and grew up in New England; from 1951 he lived and worked in New York, both for Art News and for the Museum of Modern Art, where he was an associate curator. O’Hara’s untimely death in 1966 at the age of forty was, in the words of fellow poet John Ashbery, “the biggest secret loss to American poetry since John Wheelwright was killed.”.This collection is a reissue of a volume first published by Grove Press in 1957, and it demonstrates beautifully the flawless rhythm underlying O’Hara’s conviction that to write poetry, indeed to live, “you just go on your nerve.”

“O’Hara, a key interpreter of the aesthetics of abstract-expressionism, was a vital presence in New York’s dynamic postwar art world, whether as a curator at the Museum of Modem Art, a visionary critic, a lushly original and lyrical poet, or an unflagging, often outrageous socialite” —Donna Seaman, Booklist

“Moving in the way that only simple communication can be moving. . . . His poems always manage a fresh start, free from the dreadful posturings of the conventional verse of his generation.” —Kenneth Rexroth, The New York Times Book Review

Among the most significant post-war American poets, Frank O'Hara grew up in Grafton, MA, graduating from Harvard in 1950. After earning an MA at Michigan in 1951, O'Hara moved to New York, where he began working for the Museum of Modern Art and writing for Art News. By 1960, he was named Assistant Curator of Painting and Sculpture Exhibitions at MOMA. Along with John Ashbery, Kenneth Koch, James Schuyler and Barbara Guest, he is considered an original member of the New York School. Though he died in a tragic accident in 1966, recent references to O'Hara on TV shows like Mad Men or Thurston Moore's new single evidence our culture's continuing fascination with this innovative poet.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780802134523
ISBN 10	0802134521
Title	Meditations in an Emergency
Author	Frank O'hara
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Black Cat
Year published	1996-05-16
Number of pages	52
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable