In Frank O? Hara?s Why I am Not a Painter O?

In Frank O? Hara?s Why I am Not a Painter O? Hara compares the art of painting to the art of poetry. The language in the poem is simple, informal, and downright hip. The poem is free form which adds to the poems unpretentious, casual feel. The reader conjures up images of O? Hara and Goldberg in an artist?s studio standing around talking about art and envision the art scene of the time.
O? Hara was very much into the art scene. He served as an associate curator for a period of time at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and was friends with several abstract expressionist painters, including Jackson Pollock and Franz Kline. He was also a member of the New York school of poets.
O? Hara?s work deals primarily with everyday subject matter which is evident in other works as well, such as ?Lunch Poems?. ?Why I Am Not a Painter? takes the creation of art and puts it into a casual, unpretentious, everyday setting. This casualness is first displayed in (ll 3-6) Well /For instance, Mike Goldberg/ Is starting a painting I drop in./ ?Sit down and have a drink.? O? Hara, who writes in the First Person, makes painting seem as ordinary and as essential as eating and sleeping with his use of language. He is also poking fun at himself and the poets of this time.
He uses normal, everyday words and the poem flows like any conversation would and is very informal. (ll 11-13) The painting/ is going on, and I go, and days/ go by. I
drop in. This language is very nonchalant and almost dismissive, as if art is no big deal to O? Hara (yet we know his deep involvement in it.) (ll 24-25) Days go by. It is even in/prose, I am a real poet. O?Hara uses the same words (Days go by) but in a completely different context. Here he is being cocky yet self mocking at the same time. This tells the reader not to take art too seriously; have fun with art, don?t be a prude. He also suggests to the reader that art should not be turned into