Poetry 4: Frank O'Hara

Happy General Conference Day! I always have a sense of anticipation on Gen. Conf. day, as if I'm about to open a fortune cookie. What will they say today? Who will be the new apostle?

Continuing the fortune cookie theme, here is the first part of "Lines For the Fortune Cookies" by Frank O'Hara, which you can read in its entirety here.

I think you're wonderful and so does everyone else.

Just as Jackie Kennedy has a baby boy, so will you—even bigger.

You will meet a tall beautiful blonde stranger, and you will not say hello.

You will take a long trip and you will be very happy, though alone.

You will marry the first person who tells you your eyes are like scrambled eggs.

In the beginning there was YOU—there will always be YOU, I guess.

You will write a great play and it will run for three performances.

Please phone The Village Voice immediately: they want to interview you.

Special thanks to my friend Mark Brown, who introduced me to O'Hara, and who has written some great one-line poems (and printed them on cards--so fun to read!) that I enjoy just as much.

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