"FOR JAMES FRANCO" BY FRANK O'HARA

"A leaving word in the sand, odor of tides: his name"
— Thinking of James Franco

James Franco
actor
made in USA
eager to be everything
some success

For all we know
real excellence is? it's
all in this world
never not unwatching
certain scenes of you
over and over

"FOR ZAC EFRON" BY FRANK O'HARA

"A leaving word in the sand, odor of tides: his name"
— Thinking of Zac Efron

Zac Efron
actor
created USA

Ever known
for real what excellence is? It's
real in this world
of your shirt
never not being unworn

HOW TO DO EVERYTHING IN A YEAR

to be a gardener 

buy everything 

and visit 

to visit

use your conservatory 

and climb Kilimanjaro 

to shop for baby

buy furniture 

and visit the Caribbean 

to buy

visit Alaska 

and buy anything 

to buy large appliances

go to Koh Lanta 

and apartment hunt 

to travel in Spain and Portugal 

climb Kilimanjaro 

and buy a car 

to visit the Galapagos 

visit Japan 

and visit Tanzania 

to visit Botswana 

trek in Nepal 

and lay turf 

to come to Costa Rica 

walk the camino 

and travel to Borneo 

to buy electronics 

buy Los Angeles real estate 

and visit England 

to get a great deal on a gas grill 

plan a reunion 

and conduct prescribed burns 

to burn 

look for an Au Pair 

and chose an Au Pair 

to visit Africa 

visit Reykjavik 

and visit Paris 

to ride Route 66 

visit the east coast Australia 

and complete an Everest base camp trek 

to travel in Africa 

have a baby 

and sell a home

to plan a wedding

go crabbing

and buy different produce

WHEN FREDDIE MERCURY DIED

This extraordinary, brief poem is striking,
among other things, for the contrast it
throws up between a 'major' public event
and the profound everyday–ness of our
common existences. Here, the startling
difference between the social 'drama' of
Freddie's death and the speaker's local
experience and significant inner world is
brought out by the matter–of–fact tone (the
lovely straightforwardness and rhythm of
line 7!) and the very real life, 'on the
mountain', she describes. The pathos of 
thwarted love is in there too, and the
difficult mismatch of desire, all in ironic
juxtaposition to the poem's title and hinted
at merely — the truth told, mainly, 'slant'.
Lastly, as a reader I take real pleasure from
the bare, worldly factuality of the closing
line's tetrameter, and its contrast with that
'childlike hand'.

THE FIRST NIGHTS HERE

It all came back again
tonight with the first spring thunder
in a rush of rain.

with just a simple touch
is in my heart again

It all came back again
tonight with the first monsoon thunder
in a rush of rain and I wet again.

when our eyes met
I realised we are still connected

It all came back again
tonight with the first spring thunder
in a rush of rain.

the first nights here proved otherwise
sleep kept light by noises

STOPPING BY WORDS ON A SNOWY EVENING

for DB

Whose words these are I think I know.

His house is in the village though;

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his words fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farm house near

Between the words and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there is some mistake.

The only other sound's the sweep

Of easy wind and downy flake.

The words are lovely, dark and deep.

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

SURFBOARDS

I was feeling worried about my FAS daughter 
and went into a greenhouse to buy myself a plant 
(healthier than eating chocolates). I was feeling worried about 
whether or not this was an ectopic. 
I was feeling worried about her and wanted to look. 
I was feeling worried about it, and I asked my friend 
to give me a couple of days to think about it. 
I was feeling worried about my man's healing, 
in fact I was feeling darned anxious. I was feeling worried about the baby, 
Maggie suggested that some acupuncture might be a good idea 
to encourage labour. I was feeling worried about overstepping 
the client/therapist relationship, and I do get bothered 
about doing the wrong thing. I was feeling worried about the whole thing,
but now I've read up a bit about having twins 
and spoken to a few people about having twins. 
I was feeling worried about there can be mistake, 
am I doing perfectly, making everything informational 
and reading with expression? I was feeling worried about 
letting my guard down to a stranger.
I was feeling worried about her 'cause she didn't have
a whole lot of words until quite a bit later
than a lot of other tykes her age, but then she suddenly caught up
and with gusto. I was feeling worried about
my French dictee homework because for whatever reason
tonight I just cannot comprehend half the words
and then I looked up the grading in the syllabus
and homework only counts for 2%. I was feeling worried about
my future or isolated from my friends
I was feeling worried about the jogs. I was feeling worried about
having too many celebrations. I was feeling worried about them.
I was feeling worried about my sister, Finley, so Katy
let me surf the internet to find out how she was.