As I was reading the three diary-poems by Frank O’Hara I found it odd how I completely understood his first piece, but wasn’t able to really grasp what he wrote in his second and thrid piece.
“A Step Away From Them” was the most interesting, because I found myself smiling when reading the whole piece. I was able to relate to everything he said with the exception of going to Time Square. The way he wrote as being thoughts of one’s mind on their lunch hour is the way I think when on mine. Granted the thoughts are not the same but the general idea of how one thought pops up in my mind for about five to ten seconds and then its on to the next one is why I just understood this diary-poem. Even some of what he thought about was something I thought about at one time or another. Seeing workers eating their lunches, or how things look during the day compared to how they look at night. That’s when I realized how amazing it is that a New Yorker from the 1950’s had similar thoughts to what New Yorkers today have in 2013.
The second and third diary-poem was harder for me to understand, because it seemed like he was writing about things people back then would normally talk about. Like the john door. I could not for the life of me tell you what that is but as a guess I think he is talking about a bathroom door. Those diary-poems were more 1950’s and 60’s based that if I lived in that time I am sure I would understand completely. It’s funny though I was so interested in reading the second and third piece after reading the first but when I did I was just lost and found myself change motives from actually wanting to read what he wrote to simply trying to push myself to finish the readings. Regardless of how I though about the second and third diary-poems he is a great writer. I feel I had to clarify that because this second paragraph seems like I was straight up bashing him as a writer.
