Poem of the Week: 'Mayakovsky' by Frank O'Hara

I have, finally, got into watching Mad Men and am now a full-blown addict. A cheeky poem from Frank O'Hara was slipped into the first episode of the second series, and I liked it so much I'm including it here. It's called 'Mayakovsky', and it is taken from his hugely popular 1963 collection, Meditations in an Emergency.

'Mayakovsky' 

Frank O'Hara

Now I am quietly waiting for
the catastrophe of my personality
to seem beautiful again,
and interesting, and modern.

The country is grey and
brown and white in trees,
snows and skies of laughter
always diminishing, less funny
not just darker, not just grey.

It may be the coldest day of
the year, what does he think of
that? I mean, what do I? And if I do,
perhaps I am myself again.


AW