Art & Anne Waldman

     Several of Anne Waldman's poems discuss the process of artistic creation, as well as the motives behind and importance of such action. As we discussed in class, "The Lie" puts forth the idea that all "Art begins with a lie." Despite imitation and falsehood, art is still capable of inspiring a very real emotional reaction, as "The audience wants to cry / when the actors are real & passionate." It is possible that an audience does not recognize any sense of deceit, or they are simply willing to look past the performance and be affected by the theme of a work. One can disregard the lie in favor of the larger ideas and messages that art contains.

     The theme of creation extends into "A Phonecall from Frank O’Hara," in which Waldman expresses a sense of confusion and displacement in her life and seeks some form of escape. She claims that living in San Francisco has resulted in her "spirit faltering, grown duller." Waldman also states that she wants "to be free of poetry's ornaments, / it's duty, free of constant irritation." Waldman may be feeling a sense of dissatisfaction and insecurity over her art, or perhaps she recognizes poetry's root is in a lie and does not want to maintain the burden of this expectation.

 During a phone conversation with Frank O'Hara, he tells Waldman:

     ‘While frank and free/call for musick /

     while your veins swell’

     (he sang, quoting a metaphysician)   

     This quotation is taken from the poem "Mortification" by George Herbert, who was a 16^th/17^th century poet with ties to the metaphysical movement. (The complete work can be found here). O'Hara's exact words were:

When youth is frank and free,
And calls for musick, while his veins do swell

     O'Hara paraphrases Herbert's  words rather than delivering the passage directly, thus adding a new meaning the this idea. The most significant difference is O'Hara's alteration of the pronoun, as he replaced 'his' with 'your.' Rather than delivering a quotation without context, O'Hara personalizes his message by directly linking "Mortification" to Waldman (with the use of 'your').

Again, O'Hara directly addresses Waldman when he asks:

     "Don't you know the secret, how to   

     wake up and see you don't exist, but   

     that does, don't you see phenomena   

     is so much more important than this?   

     I always love that.”

     The use of 'this' and 'that' in this passage is quite vague, which led me to multiple interpretations of the secret O'Hara describes. My initial reaction was that the word 'that' refers to the poem O'Hara quoted, or poetry in general. O'Hara seems to be saying that even though George Herbert has been dead for several hundred years, his poetry still exists. Even if O'Hara did not quote Herbert's words exactly, the idea of musical language arousing a sense of freedom and a visceral reaction in the blood/veins is still relevant and is capable of inspiring further poetic expression in O'Hara. O'Hara also states that the  "phenomena is so much more important." This suggests that the poem itself is much larger and more significant than the actual poet, as we retain the words but may not know what the artist was thinking or intending at the time of creation.

Frank concludes by saying:

How can you if   

it's sad & dead?” “But that's just it!   

If! It isn't. It doesn't want to be

Do you want to be?” 

      I believe that Waldman is ultimately saying that it does not matter if the origin is in a lie, or if a poet dies, as the poem will never be "sad & dead." O'Hara tells Waldman that poem has its own identity, and can resist an unfulfilled existence. O'Hara asks Waldman if she wants to be "sad & dead," which is presumably how she would exist without poetic expression. The last part of the poem shows a nostalgia for and desire for a return to the creative energy and freedom of New York, as "it was the life!" that allowed simple experience to be elevated to a phenomena.