Having a Coke With You

I knew I was forgetting something.

Last week I remembered that I needed to put together this month’s catch-all until it was actually time to do it. Let’s blame Easter Sunday. I’ll refrain from saying something blasphemous.

I finally finished The Collected Poems of Frank O’Hara, a collection I’ve picked at over the years, but never indulged in full. Part of the New York School, O’Hara’s work homaged French surrealists and classical musicians, while also drawing on his daily life, friendships, and generally ill-fated loves. Vulgar, funny, and in-your-face, O’Hara’s work embraced sex and sexuality in a way that was emerging but still uncommon in 1950s America. Some of his earlier surrealist work isn’t to my taste, but I very much enjoy his later autobiographical work.

Unlike the work of classical or the confessional poets, O’Hara’s poems can feel opaque, but with context, they are much more accessible. As with the art of Jackson Pollock, it helps immensely to understand what the artist was up to. Looking for that context, I read the collection in tandem with Brad Gooch’s City Poet: The Life and Times of Frank O'Hara. The definitive biography of O’Hara, City Poet traces his life from his New England upbringing through his service in the military and Harvard years, to his time in New York, where he found a home among the new wave of artists, writers, and theatre artisans of the early 1950s, including many years curating for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I don’t often describe biographies as page-turners, but this one is compellingly written.

For City Poet, Gooch was able to interview many of O’Hara’s family members and friends, who shared candid stories about his life, work, and artistic persona. There are also quite a few tales of his sharp tongue, which was often sadly honed by alcohol. At times, I was strongly reminded of the characters in Mart Crowley’s Boys in the Band, which was criticized by some for portraying homosexuals as bitter, nasty, and self-loathing. As a mere two years passed between O’Hara’s untimely death and the play’s Off-Broadway debut, I suspect in this case Art was not too distant from Life and that some of Crowley’s contemporaries owe him an apology.

Because so much of O’Hara’s work is autobiographical, as well as in-the-moment, I found it easier to enter his poems with an understanding the various phases of his life, as well as his friendships with people named in his poems, such as Joe LeSueur, Larry Rivers, Bunny Lang, Grace Hartigan, Jane Freilicher, the de Koonings, James Schuyler, and Vincent Warren. O’Hara often dashed off a poem during his lunch hour, referencing some event he’d recently experienced or observed, or homaging one friend or another. He frequently wrote poems as gifts to friends embarking on travel or returning home. Having that biographical context led to a better engagement with the work, as well as a bit of insight into how O’Hara translated his real-life experiences into short poems.

For example, a reader may wonder why O’Hara wrote a poem about Lana Turner collapsing (‘Lana Turner has collapsed!’), only to discover that the poem was literally ripped from a Hollywood headline and meant nothing in particular, other than what the reader can find on the surface. O’Hara dashed off the poem after reading the headline at a newsstand, because he had a reading that night and felt he should bring something new. If you thought Lana Turner or her collapse represented anything other than an opportunity for a poem, you were definitely reading too much into it. Still, O’Hara grounds the short piece with observation and humor.

Both books are worth reading, and if you’re not already familiar with O’Hara’s life and work, I suggest experiencing them in tandem.

Also in this letter:

• Posts from March 2026

• Work in Progress

• Writing Advice

• A Parting Song

Monthly Posts
Last month I wrote about exorcising the ugly ghosts in our heads that prevent us from fully engaging with our creativity. I also touched on the human need to both rebel and fit in, and closed out with advice on structuring dialogue for best effect.

Do You Need That?
The Ghost in the Machine
What’s Good?
Saints and Heretics
The Structure of Dialogue

Book Club
I also started a series I’ve toyed with previously, in which I discuss books about writing. It's a book club, but I pick the books and I'm the only one who gets to talk. I began with Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird, because it covers a lot of ground for writers at all stages of their creative life, and because I’ve read it a good ten times and it is therefore familiar. The rest of the posts will run through April and May.

Bird by Bird: Introduction
Bird by Bird: Getting Started
Bird by Bird: Memories and Observations
Bird by Bird: Characters Pt. 1
Bird by Bird: Characters Pt. 2
Bird by Bird: Characters Pt. 3
Bird by Bird: Plot
Bird by Bird: Dialogue
Bird by Bird: Set Design
Bird by Bird: False Starts

Work in Progress
Closing in on the 1/3 point on the novel-in-progress and I don’t hate it yet. I took a short break from writing to re-read the first dozen or so chapters and they are sufficiently load bearing. I highlighted themes and motifs I need to continue working in throughout the novel. It’s good to work from a plan. I still laughed at the right places and felt the dramatic scenes held up, so I felt pretty good about that as well. We’ll see how it plays in Peoria.

I also wrote the first half dozen or so blog posts in the series I mentioned last month. That will actually start running in June. I’m pleased with what I have so far and may turn the series into a permanent collection of some kind or another.

Writing Advice
I follow about 30 blogs sharing writing advice and bookmark the good stuff. Here are some of the best posts from March:

• “5 Ways to Develop Character Voices” - Janice Hardy, Fiction University

• “How to Write Authentic Character Behavior” - Angela Ackerman, Writers Helping Writers

• “Using Contradictions to Create Microtension” - C.S. Lakin, Live Write Thrive

• “Base Your Story Structure on Principles, Not Systems” - Tiffany Yates Martin, Jane Friedman

• “Static vs. Dynamic Description: Understanding the Difference” - Seth Harwood

• “How to Fix a Weak Novel Midpoint” - Jenn Windrow, Writers in the Storm

A Parting Song
Spring is here, the weather is decent, the days are longer, and I’m feeling bouncier than usual. A good time to share a bop.

Watch below or listen on Spotify.