‘Personism’ by Frank O’Hara

After reading Frank O’Hara’s essay , “Personism: A Manifesto”, I realized that a lot of writings by “great” writers are difficult to understand. For example, I remember reading a long essay by a writer named Gertrude Stein a while ago. Her essay was the most confusing thing I have ever read. “Personism: A Manifesto” was just as hard to comprehend for me. It sounded like someone’s thoughts just written down on paper. However, what I did understand was when he talks about how he doesn’t like “elaborately sounded structures” in writing. In a video that was shown to us about Frank O’Hara, there is a scene where he is writing a poem straight off his head and not taking time to think deeply. He mentions that in this essay when he says ” You just go on your nerve.” It seems that writing doesn’t have to be clear and straight forward all the time and that writing too is ‘art’.