4.28: I am not a painter, I am a poet.
To take full advantage of Flickr, you should use a JavaScript-enabled browser and
install the latest version of the Macromedia Flash Player .
119/366
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
ha! i love it.
ORANGES.
Posted 4 months ago.
( permalink
)
btw a recent new yorker has a whole article on him. i'll save it for
ya.
Posted 4 months ago.
( permalink
)
the poem is great, I like the tones in the
photo very much
Posted 4 months ago.
( permalink
)
Rothko? Wait... I didn't see the tag...
Posted 4 months ago.
( permalink
)
Love the choices you make.
Posted 4 months ago.
( permalink
)
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
)
One of my favorite poets and poems of all
time. I, however, am not a Rothko fan.
Posted 4 months ago.
( permalink
)
Oh, you might want to add your photo to the Frank O'Hara pool.
Posted 4 months ago.
( permalink
)
nice combination of words and images, here.
you choose wisely.
Posted 4 months ago.
( permalink
)
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
)
thanks for posting this in the group. like
rothko as well.
Posted 4 months ago.
( permalink
)
Would you like to comment?
Sign up for a free account, or sign in (if you're already a member).
This photo also belongs to:
Additional Information
All rights reserved
Anyone can see this photo