“More Frank” - Keith Leonard
When Elaine de Kooning painted Frank O'Hara, she painted his face then smudged it away. "It was more Frank," she said. I've been thinking, too, of Rilke saying he just wanted to be a final thing. The line between art and laundry erased. I like to run the dishwasher at night then place all the clean, clear glasses in a neat row each morning. I put my yellow coffee cup in the empty rack. I drive to work and grade my papers and peer over the cliff edge of our bank account, muttering, "No stairs." In a myth, Plato lets the dead choose what life they will lead when next reborn. It's taking Odysseus a long time. Of course it is. He's looking for an uneventful life. He's finding so few to choose from. This one pressing a bag of ice to a child's forehead. This one drawing a comb through his daughter's tangled hair.
