Thursday, June 27, 2013

Poetry Friday: Autobiographia Literaria


I heard Billy Collins read this poem on The Writer's Almanac while driving this morning, and reflected that it was practically perfect.
******************************************
When I was a child
I played by myself in a
corner of the schoolyard
all alone.

I hated dolls and I
hated games, animals were
not friendly and birds
flew away.

If anyone was looking
for me I hid behind a
tree and cried out "I am
an orphan."

And here I am, the
center of all beauty!
writing these poems!
Imagine!

-- Frank O'Hara, from The Selected Poems of Frank O'Hara. © Vintage Books

3 comments:

GretchenJoanna said...

Growing up has its good side.

Pentimento said...

Oh G-d. For some of us, that is truer than true.

Anne-Marie said...

Maybe it's especially true for poets? Philip Larkin said that he was liberated as a child by realizing that he didn't hate people, he just hated children. If he could only hang on till he was an adult, he wouldn't have anything to do with kids any more and he'd be okay.