In Memory Of My Feelings

Between 1952, when Frank O'Hara published his first collection of poems, and his death, in 1966, at the early age of 40, he became recognized as a quintessential American poet whose vernacular phrasing, both worldly and lyrical, told of the urban life of his generation. In addition to the contribution he made to American literature, O'Hara was a vital figure in the New York cultural scene and spent many years working at The Museum of Modern Art, where, having begun by taking a job selling postcards on the admissions desk, he ultimately became an associate curator in the Department of Painting and Sculpture. And when he unexpectedly died, in an accident on the beach at Fire Island, New York, he was deeply mourned by the Museum's staff and by the New York art world.