LITR 5731: Seminar in American Multicultural Literature

Poetry Presentation, spring 2006

Thursday, 27 April

Poetry: Frank O'Hara, "My Heart"

Poetry reader / discussion leader: Giselle Hewitt

Frank O’Hara (1926 – 1966), "My Heart”

Biographical background:

• Studied piano at the New England Conservatory in Boston.
• Originally majored in music, but got his B.A and M.A. in English
• Worked at the Museum of Modern Art throughout his life
• Besides poetry he wrote essays and reviews for Art News
• Collaborated with painters to make “poem-paintings” (paintings with texts)
• Often wrote about the artists and actors (Lana Turner and Billie Holiday)
• Became a curator, and often wrote introductions for exhibits and tours at the museum
• Died at the age of 40 while vacationing on Fire Island where he was run over by a sand buggy

"My Heart" shows the homosexual’s question with gender identity.

The poem exemplifies the difficulties that homosexual individuals face when they are trying to find their place in the world.  Often they find themselves stuck in between two separate worlds with two separate identities (in the dominant world and in a homosexual subculture).

·         the writer wants to avoid predictability

·         he doesn’t want to strictly follow the confines of the traditional male role because this would be boring “a sleeper”    

·         but he doesn’t want to be seen as the gay male stereotype either because he would be fake and “overproduced”

·         he wants to be noticed (the “vulgar” are always noticed), but he doesn’t want to be seen as either flashy or drab    

Objectives:

Objective 4a:  To identify the “new American” who crosses, combines, or confuses ethnic or gender identities.

This combining and confusing is a version of the “minority dilemma” of “assimilation or resistance”.  Homosexuals as a group often find themselves mixing the traditional gender identities.  They must ask whether they will “fight or join” the gender roles that are expected of them by society and many times they decide to combine the roles in order to create a new self not defined by the dominant.  This is to say they do not chose one or the other, but choose a combination of both.  

Discussion: 

When he says he wants to be “bare”, “shaven”, and “open” do you think he is referring to the freedom of expression that comes with identity hybridity?

Do you think stereotyping can be seen as a form of discrimination against homosexuals?