Oh My Darlin

Oh my darlin, oh my darlin
Oh my darlin, Clementine
You have gone, but not forever
Somewhere out there, you must hide.

Rolling over, rolling yonder
Clementine, you never cease
Missing zest, and missing laughter
You’re alive still, I believe.

Oh I miss you, how I miss you
When the seasons start to change
Clementine, fruit of my labors
How I wish you’d never strayed.

When you ripen, and you grow up
On my door you’ll knock someday
Let me in mom, let me in dad
I was lost, but found again.

Oh my darling, oh my darling
Oh my darling Clementine
Let me hug you, let me squeeze you
Till the juice runs down my leg.

I Don't Wanna Know

You tell me that you got a mind of your own,
And you don’t really mind that I’m gone,
Well guess what baby girl?

(I don't wanna know)

The last thing I wanna hear
is you bitchin bout your new boyfriend
And how he can’t compete,
or how you never feel complete
I know you think I’m sweet but

(I don't wanna know)

The last thing I wanna hear,
Is you bitchin bout your disappointments.
Leave me be,
Remember why I had to leave?
Maybe cause I never made your MVP...

(I don't wanna know)

The last thing I wanna hear
Is “Listen baby, have you gotten over me?”
The answer's maybe,
And if you persuade me
I’ll laugh a little less
Before I ask “Are you crazy?”

(I don't wanna know)

The last thing I wanna hear
Is “This is all your fault!”
It took me all of seven days,
and all of seven ways to repel you
And now I think its only fair I tell you...

(I don't wanna know)

The last thing I wanna hear
Is you askin if I miss the old days.
I know its hard to believe,
But you are a bother to me,
Why do you bother to speak?

(I don't wanna know)

The last thing I wanna hear
Is you asking bout my new girlfriend.

Anselm Berrigan

Bio

Anselm Berrigan was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1972 to poets Alice Notley and Ted Berrigan. Although very little is mentioned of how much time he spent there as a child, it is known that soon after his parents moved to New York City where his father found work editing various art magazines and books. Over time, Anselm has given his parents much of the credit for his early education, naming then as one of the primary reasons he was able to read by the age of four. Of these years, very little is talked about, other than the death of his father Ted Berrigan when he was only 10 years old.
It is possible that for his own motivations, Anselm chose not to talk about the impact this had on his upbringing, but what is known is that he got along fairly well with his stepfather (British poet Douglas Oliver.) Anselm also mentions that early on in his education, he would read the poetry of his own parents (particularly his father) in an attempt to understand them better. Academically driven, primarily through the efforts of his parents, Anselm attended New York’s famous Stuyvesant High School where he soon found himself reading and writing more than he could ever have thought himself capable of. Although initially a shy and quiet type, Anselm ran track his junior and senior year, making friends and enjoying their company at school more than the actual education he received there.
In 1990, Anselm attended SUNY-Buffalo where he took up working for their school newspaper. That paper, which came out three times a week in a circulation of 12,000 people, is credited with producing some of his first works of poetry. Originally a reporter for the paper, Anselm began to feel limited by the kind of writing he was doing for them, so he began keeping a notebook where he wrote some short fiction as well as his first attempts at poetry (his first poems being written his second year at college.) Following this, he completed his MFA program at Brooklyn College where he met and studied under poet Allen Ginsberg.
After completing his program Anselm moved to San Francisco, California where he didn’t know a single person, in an attempt to center his life on poetry. Working odd jobs where he could, he fell into the poet community out there continuing his writing until he found work as the artistic director at The Saint Mark’s Poetry Project in New York in 2003. He was artistic director there until 2007 and he is currently working as the co-chair of the writing program at Bard College MFA program and is a professor at Wesleyan University.

Works Written
On the Premises, 1995.

They Beat Me Over the Head With a Sack, 1998.

Integrity & Dramatic Life, 1999.

In the Dream Hole, 2001.

Zero Star Hotel, 2002.

"Pictures for Private Devotion", 2003.

Some Notes on My Programming, 2006.




Moods

Fast-
(All his thoughts come at you real fast)

Fire escape slashes feet dude
But thanks for the intro to nudie
Mags & staying all day sitting

To be pointed in the direction
Of acid nail-biting and told to go
& to go, sad, away from the repeating
-Opening to “Jim Brody”

Questioning-

Who cares?/I should have been, but I was what, thirteen?
-“Jim Brody”

Do I argue for reality’s underpinning to dissolve?/Is faith in stability preferable to the truth?
-To manage the inevitable with aplomb”

Do I feel like an animal staring up at the dental light?
-“To protect my piracy”

Structural-
(He makes use of the structure in which a poem is written to convey message and purpose. He will either write a poem in a long thin (like a newspaper) column, or he will write in “wisps” or other such structures to emphasis the shape and structure of his writing…examples include):

“To Protect my Piracy”
“A true account of talking to myself on the #4 line”
“Ode to the Paranoid”

Rambling-
(In his column style poems, he usually finishes the sentences he starts on one line, in the second or third line after it.)

I answer horn first time
For weeks from can & say
"In the study with a leadpipe"
To Graham & ask him if he's feeling
Flexible. I am feeling Shelley
& an outline. Red lines over black
-“The Pursuit”

Closure-
(Oftentimes his poems are built so that you always find a form of closure at the end, if not a tie-in comment referring to an earlier statement he may have made within the poem)

I answer horn first time
For weeks from can & say
"In the study with a leadpipe"
-Opening to “The Pursuit”

My leg. I want you autonomy
In the conservatory with a candlestick
Where I will be just and mild
and free and wise.
-Ending of “The Pursuit”

Style
Anselm Berrigan doesn’t consider himself a student of any particular movement or style. It should be noted however that his father (Ted Berrigan) was a member of the second generation of the New York School of poetry. Anselm does admit that he read his father’s poetry early on in life and that following those years he started to get a sense of where line breaks and other important factors to his writing should be. His mentor, Allen Ginsberg, is a also a well known beat era poet. Beat era poets tended to write more about their rejection of American values, experimentation (with drugs and sex), and freedom. Not too many of these things filter into Anselm’s style, however bits and pieces of all of these influences to show in his writings. Because of the various poets that he has come into contact with, his style is so varied and unique to him. What can be noted is that stream of consciousness is a regular writing style he implements, as well as internal dialogue.

Fellow Poets

Anselm Berrigan is a real hard artist to pin down in terms of impact because he is simply too young. He is 36 years old, which puts him on Earth for quite a bit, however, in the world of poetry he still hasn’t put in enough time to have other poets specifically name him as one of their influences.

Anselm has recently admitted to being influenced by his own father’s writing (Ted Berrigan.) What started as an attempt to get to know his late father a little better, became a study in poetry for Anselm when he began piecing his own poems in a style very much like Ted’s. Ted (who did meet Frank O’ Hara) Berrigan and his spur of the moment, stream of consciousness style definitely appealed to a younger Anselm who was attempting to make his way into the world of poetry, and the conversations that he holds in his mind (and later writes down) become real mental exercises when you sit down to try to follow along.

Anselm has also mentioned that he took a liking to poet and author Langston Hughes. Although Hughes’ style is very much tied into his Harlem, New York years, it form is very much unique to him. Langston’s poems are often based on the rhythms and languages of the contemporary blues and jazz, not necessarily something Anselm emulates, but he does show cognizance of. If anything, Anselm often knows what the rhythm for the way people read his poems will be, and he writes and breaks lines in ways as to read contrary to that.

Works Cited
http://epc.buffalo.edu/ezines/alyric/berrigan.html
http://www.coconutpoetry.org/aberrigan1.htm
http://www.chicagopostmodernpoetry.com/aberrigan.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langston_Hughes
Berrigan, Anselm. Zero star hotel. Edge Publishing Company, Washington DC. 2002

The Lost ones

I seen the reaper creeping right around a weeping widow
She’s crying cause her husband lost his way and then got lit up
I gave her my condolences and left them in the middle of the services,
cause nervous is the feeling that I get,
when I’m that close to death-
I know my time is near, but I still have regrets.

Sometimes I walk around and I can feel just feel what you mean
But what about the other times I’m guessing in between?
I’m lonely, like the first man before he got Eve-
and she was the most beautiful thing that he’d ever seen.
I wish it wasn’t hard for me to sit here and believe
that relief is what they’ve earned and now they’re waiting there for me.

What does it mean?
What does it mean?
Look inside yourself and tell me whether it’s a dream.
What does it mean?
What does it mean?
I wonder what’s in store for us when finally we leave?

Poet Page

Bio

Frank O’Hara was born June 27, 1926 to Russell Joseph O’ Hara and Katherine Broderick. Although born in Maryland, his parents soon moved and Frank’s early years were spent in Grafton, Massachusetts. In addition to the move, he attended St. John’s Preparatory school in Shrewsbury (Worcester Diocese) which his father approved of (himself having attended the nearby College of the Holy Cross.)

From an early age it became clear that Frank had a love for the arts, an interest he pursued in the form of music. A fan of contemporary music, he studied piano at The New England Conservatory in Boston for three years (1941-1944.) Following his graduation from high school, Frank put his musical interests aside and joined the Navy to serve as a sonar man on the “USS Nicholas” in the South Pacific and Japan. Following his service in the war, Frank made use of his GI Bill and attended Harvard University where he resumed his musical interests.

Frank initially majored in Music at Harvard (for he never did stop playing the piano) however the visual art and contemporary music of the time pushed him to explore other modes of expression-namely- poetry. He began writing impulsively during his spare time (a method he would prefer above all others for the remainder of his life) but it wasn’t until he met fellow poet John Ashbery that he began getting his works published (The Harvard Advocate being the first to put him on print) and taking his work more seriously. Following his early successes, Frank would change his major from Music to English earning his bachelors from Harvard in 1950, and his masters in English from the University of Michigan a year later.

After earning his masters in English, Frank would move to New York City where he found work at the Museum of Modern art (first working at the front desk, and later becoming assistant curator.) During this time, Frank also found work as a reviewer for “ARTnews Magazine” and began gaining considerable attention as one of several “New York Movement” poets who were working together at the time (many of them having been introduced by Frank to one another.) The movement would go on to take a major hit July 24^th, 1966 when Frank O’Hara was struck by a man driving a beach vehicle (some accounts read Jeep, others say dune buggy) on Fire Island. He died at the age of only 40 years old, and was buried at Green River Cemetery on Long Island.

Works written in his lifetime

A City Winter and Other Poems. Two Drawings by Larry Rivers. (New York: Tibor de Nagy Gallery Editions, 1951)

Oranges: 12 pastorals. (New York: Tibor de Nagy Gallery Editions, 1953; New York: Angel Hair Books, 1969)

Meditations in an Emergency. (New York: Grove Press, 1957; 1967)

Second Avenue. Cover drawing by Larry Rivers. (New York: Totem Press in Association with Corinth Books, 1960)

Odes. Prints by Michael Goldberg. (New York: Tiber Press, 1960)

Lunch Poems. (San Francisco, CA: City Lights Books, The Pocket Poets Series (No. 19), 1964)

Love Poems (Tentative Title). (New York: Tibor de Nagy Gallery Editions, 1965)

Moods

Catchy-

The Sun woke me this morning loud
and clear, saying "Hey! I've been
trying to wake you up for fifteen
minutes. Don't be so rude, you are
only the second poet I've ever chosen
to speak to personally…

-The opening to “A True Account of Talking to the Sun on Fire Island”

Wet-

Wet heat drifts through the afternoon…/We are sick of living and afraid that death will not be by water, o sea…/selfsame pools of trefoil…/when the summer’s gong of the day and the night slithers towards their sweat…/do they mistake these fresh drops for tears?/

-“Ann Arbor Variations”

Alone at night in the wet city…

-Opening to “1951”

…that proud cur at the garbage can in the rain…

-“Homosexuality”

Wanting-

“It’s a summer day, and I want to be wanted more than anything else in the world.”

-The ending to” Homosexuality”

I understand the boredom of the clerks…/do you remember?/ You have left me to the sewer's meanwhile, and I have answered the sea's open wish to love me as a bonfire's watchful hand…

-“A City Winter”

Instructive-

Mothers of America let your kids go to the movies…

-“Ave Maria”

I’ve got to tell you how I love you always...

-“Morning”

Run your finger along your no-moss mind that’s not a thought, that’s soot.

-“Song (is it dirty)”

Internal-

I know so much
about things, I accept
so much, it's like
vomiting. And I am
nourished by the
shabbiness of my
knowing so much
about others and what
they do, and accepting
so much that I hate
as if I didn't know
what it is, to me.
And what it is to
them I know, and hate.

-“Spleen”

Style

Frank O’Hara was a member of the New York School of poetry. Drawing off of the contemporary art of the time (which itself was feeding off of the surrealist movement) the NY School of poetry tended to be best described as light, observational, and with a tendency to be written in a stream of consciousness style. Beginning in his college years, and continuing for the rest of his life, Frank preferred to write his poems on the spur of the moment. As a result, many of his poems tended to sound like outright conversations with himself. In “Personism: A Manifesto” Frank O’Hara stresses that he isn’t the biggest fan of things like rhythm or assonance, and that for something like poem-writing it is best to “…just go on nerve.” Reading his writings it is clear to see that this is the approach he took to his own poems, as well as those of fellow NY poets.

Fellow Poets

Ron Padgett is a follower of the New York School of poetry, although he was too young to have been involved with the core of Frank’s NYC poets. His style is very reminiscent of Frank’s internal conversations with himself, and he regularly addresses the reader as a part of his internal decision making. His poem “Night Jump” is a clear example of the different parts of Frank’s writing that most interest him.

“Night Jump”

At night Chinamen jump
on Asia with a thump

Who but Frank O’Hara
could have written that?
and then gone on to speak of
love and something he calls grace.
To start out so funny
and end up with mystery and grace —
we should all be so lucky.

Fellow Poets

Frank O’Hara was influenced by French Surrealists the likes of Raymond Roussel. Roussel himself was a French poet and novelist who did not gain much attention until after his passing. O’Hara as well as many other members of the NY school favored wit and humor for which Roussel was known for in his own writings. His works were packed with double meanings and regularly made use of this in his own verses.

Frank O’ Hara was also influenced by the French poet Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud. Rimbaud himself was part of the Decadent movement in France which stressed themes like sexuality, liberty, and (of course) decadence. His writings impacted on the younger version of O’Hara who was trying to decide on writing or music during his college years. Although it is not explicitly mentioned when Frank came out about his own sexuality, it is known that Rimbaud’s history is very much tied to that of his mentor Paul Verlaine with whom he had an affair (that scandalized many fellow Parisians.) Quite possible this poet’s own writings about his relationships and coming to terms with his own experiences may have initially attracted Frank to this style of writing as well.

Works Cited

Feldman, Alan. Frank O'Hara / by Alan Feldman. Boston : Twayne Publishers, c1979.

O'Hara, Frank, 1926-1966. Poems from the Tibor de Nagy editions, 1952-1966 : A city winter, Oranges, Love poems (tentative title) / Frank O'Hara. New York : Tibor de Nagy Editions, 2006.

www.frankohara.org

www.poemhunter.com