4.28: I am not a painter, I am a poet.

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Why I Am Not a Painter

I am not a painter, I am a poet.
Why? I think I would rather be
a painter, but I am not. Well,

for instance, Mike Goldberg
is starting a painting. I drop in.
"Sit down and have a drink" he
says. I drink; we drink. I look
up. "You have SARDINES in it."
"Yes, it needed something there."
"Oh." I go and the days go by
and I drop in again. The painting
is going on, and I go, and the days
go by. I drop in. The painting is
finished. "Where's SARDINES?"
All that's left is just
letters, "It was too much," Mike says.

But me? One day I am thinking of
a color: orange. I write a line
about orange. Pretty soon it is a
whole page of words, not lines.
Then another page. There should be
so much more, not of orange, of
words, of how terrible orange is
and life. Days go by. It is even in
prose, I am a real poet. My poem
is finished and I haven't mentioned
orange yet. It's twelve poems, I call
it ORANGES. And one day in a gallery
I see Mike's painting, called SARDINES.
- Frank O'Hara

Comments

	JKönig (away) says: ha! i love it. ORANGES. Posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )
	JKönig (away) says: btw a recent new yorker has a whole article on him. i'll save it for ya. Posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )
	gawdessness says: the poem is great, I like the tones in the photo very much Posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )
	Lightboxx Studios says: Rothko? Wait... I didn't see the tag... Posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )
	penelope's odyssey says: Love the choices you make. Posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )
	Scrivenings says: Thanks, y'all. I'm a big Rothko fan. I've done a few Rothko imitation painting myself, including a big orange one in my living room. This poem seemed perfect for the set, since it's all about this relationship between word and image. Posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )
	dogfaceboy says: One of my favorite poets and poems of all time. I, however, am not a Rothko fan. Posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )
	dogfaceboy says: Oh, you might want to add your photo to the Frank O'Hara pool. Posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )
	gracec says: nice combination of words and images, here. you choose wisely. Posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )
	Scrivenings says: Not a Rothko fan? How come? Have you seen them in real life? I liked but didn't love him until I moved to NY and walked into a room of Rothkos and it was amazing. But, really, the thing is that I just love putting paint on surfaces. I like painting the walls in my house. When I look at a Rothko, I can feel what it's like to paint, if that makes sense. Posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )
	m kasahara says: thanks for posting this in the group. like rothko as well. Posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

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Taken on April 28, 2008

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4.28: I am not a painter, I am a poet.

Comments

JKönig (away) says:

JKönig (away) says:

gawdessness says:

Lightboxx Studios says:

penelope's odyssey says:

Scrivenings says:

dogfaceboy says:

dogfaceboy says:

grace*c* says:

Scrivenings says:

m kasahara says:

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Scrivenings' photostream

Project 366, 2008 (Set)

Me (Set)

Interestingity (Set)

366: April (Set)

Frank O'Hara (Pool)

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gracec says: