Frank O'Hara

(27 March 1926 – 25 July 1966 / Baltimore, Maryland)

poet Frank O'Hara
#196 on top 500 poets

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

I am not a painter, I am a poet.
Why? I think I would rather be
a painter, but I am not. Well,
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Comments about Why I Am Not A Painter by Frank O'Hara

  • Jozef Neumann (8/16/2016 8:29:00 AM)


    Yes. That's the way it is. It comes and goes. (Report) Reply

    2 person liked.
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  • (9/26/2014 1:31:00 AM)


    This poem illustrates how Frank O'Hara has a major place in a line of American poetry: free verse = Walt Whitman, Wm Carlos Williams, Allen Ginsburg, Frank O'Hara, Charles Bukowski. These poets reject traditional poetic forms as often being artificial. They also have stood out against Modernism (and much postmodernism) as being academic, elitist, and inaccessible to literate readers. This is not one of my favorite O'Hara poems, but it is one of the most often anthologized.

    And, by the way, Elias and Patrick, O'Hara's sexual orientation and relationships are irrelevant to this poem - though this is not always the case. So?     (Report) Reply

    3 person liked.
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  • (9/25/2014 10:03:00 AM)


    i really dont understand this at all, but I like the name. I have wondered why I am not a painter...being a writer instead, i never found the answer nor understood why i chose to let myself and my feelings out through words instead of a brush. Interesting thought but i seriously dont like the poem at all. (Report) Reply

    4 person liked.
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  • Nancy Oyula (9/25/2014 7:08:00 AM)


    Nice. I played an imaginary background theme song as I read. (Report) Reply

    2 person liked.
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  • (9/25/2014 4:50:00 AM)


    Perplexing but it shakes you up.
    I think this poem tries to express the different moments of creativity and how the creative spirit takes over regardless and in spite of the wishes of the creator.
    Different and interesting. Provokes a new poetic sensation     (Report) Reply

    3 person liked.
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  • (6/27/2014 11:30:00 PM)


    The poem I likes much due to its peculiar theme in sadness and expression of sadness and such things it is beautifully expressed in the poem. (Report) Reply

    4 person liked.
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  • Jasbir Chatterjee (9/25/2013 11:53:00 PM)


    paintings, poems, music....these are all forms of creative expression...this poem puts it so beautifully... (Report) Reply

    5 person liked.
    		10 person did not like.
  • Shashikant Nishant Sharma (9/25/2013 9:19:00 PM)


    Wonderful poem and beautiful expression of feelings and emotions. (Report) Reply

    6 person liked.
    		5 person did not like.
  • (9/25/2013 7:36:00 PM)


    Wow, this is awesome! ! ! ! :) (Report) Reply

    6 person liked.
    		7 person did not like.
  • (9/25/2012 11:08:00 AM)


    An abstract expressionist poem. (Report) Reply

    8 person liked.
    		6 person did not like.
# 395 poem on top 500 Poems






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