DDCPoetry

Original poem reprinted online here: "Why I Am Not A Painter" by Frank O'Hara Originally read: September 25, 2013 More information about the Poet: Frank O'Hara This poem is hard to explain as a poem, but I think Robert Pinsky in his book the  Singing School: Learning to Write (and Read) Poetry by Studying with the Masters  sums this poem best as "freedom." Now this isn't the poem which decides the debate on "what poetry is" with all the terms thrown like "rhyming" or "craft."  However, this poem is from the vantage point of a poet trying to create. "I am not a painter, I am a poet. / Why? I think I would rather be / a painter, but I am not. Well," Here the speaker is being casual with the language and does set up a rhetorical question which states "why" he isn't a painter.  From the tone of the piece, there's a sense of a shrug, "well" and then the story goes. And with the second stanza ...