Vintage Book Contemporary American Poetry. Those: -

¶ … Vintage Book Contemporary American Poetry. Those: - Mark Strand's "The Story Our Lives" - Robert Pinsky's "The Hearts," - Frank O'Hara's "Having a Coke With You," - Galway Kinnel's "After Making Love We Hear Footsteps," - J.

"Having a Coke With You"

Frank O'Hara's poem "Having a Coke With You" presents audiences with an intriguing look into the poet's world as he focuses on discussing a topic that appears to be related to love, but that is actually more confusing that one might be inclined to believe. It seems that the poet is partly joking and partly passionate about the topic of love, considering that even though he compares his lover to some of the world's most beautiful concepts, he does not hesitate to introduce humorous lines as being related to the subject that he is discussing.

O'Hara cleverly addresses ideas such as art and life with the purpose of emphasizing their importance. Even with the fact that the object of the poet's love is compared to artwork performed by Duchamp and Marini, this association seems somewhat comical and it appears that the poet is also trying to make audiences feel more relaxed by refraining from turning his love statement into a somber poem. What is interesting about this comparison is that the poet seems to have trouble determining whether the person he admires is actually superior to artwork that he relates to.

To a certain degree, one might be inclined to consider that O'Hara objectifies the person he is in love with by attributing a material value to him. However, the truth is that O'Hara is interested in doing exactly the opposite: he wants his lover to be impressed with the poem and he goes through great efforts in order to do so. This can actually be considered to be much more than a poem. It appears that it is similar to a love note and that the poet uses particularly personal notes as a result of wanting to reach the heart of his lover.

One of the reasons for which O'Hara compares his loved one with artwork is to emphasize that he would actually consider looking at this person rather than visiting a museum and looking at paintings by Duchamp and Marini. The poet acknowledges the importance of these artistic works, but feels that people also need to accept that some individuals are actually more important than some of the world's most impressive art.

"Having a Coke With You" can be more than just a simple poem and this is especially visible when considering that most individuals reading it are likely to consider their lives and the attitudes that they would need to employ with the purpose of finding their personal identities. Many people today have problems expressing themselves freely because they feel constricted by certain values that are promoted in the contemporary society. O'Hara acts in disagreement with social pressures and actually goes as far as to introduce some of his most personal feelings into "Having a Coke With You." The humor that he uses at times is probably meant to put across his sincerity and the fact that he is only human, as he is apparently not especially concerned with trying to seem an artificial lover.

O'Hara's poem is virtually an enigma when considering the rapidity with which he switches from passion to humor and from art that is centuries old to a simple Coke. The poet obviously wanted to put across an unconventional message and knew that a clever way to do so would be to confuse people into actually having to interpret his words. Having a Coke might be interpreted as being a menial task and this is meant to have individuals comprehend that O'Hara is practically willing to do even the most boring activities as long as he has the opportunity to watch the person he loves at the same time.