Why I Am Not a Painter | A Poem by Frank O'Hara

April 29 - This poem changed my life. Well, the focus of my expression in art. The speaker of the poem, and it's hard to not see Frank O'Hara as the speaker, the "I," in this poem, explains how the creative impulse may be the same when making a painting or when making a poem, but each of us are drawn to a particular materiality when creating art. The reason O'Hara isn't a painter is because he uses words to make art, not paint, as he says, "...It is even in / prose, I am a real poet." He isn't a painter, he's a poet. But, he studied and loved painting and practiced some but his talent was with words.

I was studying music in college when I first read this poem and its conversational language and energy and dialogue(!) were so different from any poem I had read to that point. This poem gave me permission to write my own poems, in my own voice, in whatever way I could develop as a poet. It also reinforced the idea I heard in Walt Whitman's poem "There Was A Child Went Forth," that it's ok for me to be who I am. It showed me how to love myself, love my pursuit of music, and to also recognize and practice poetry, because, I am a poet.

This poem is also the inspiration behind one of my tattoos.

Anthology PoemsJeffery Oliverfrank o'hara, joe lesueur, poetry, painting