Lovers of My Orchards

Lovers of My Orchards: Writers and Artists on Frank O’ Hara (1926-1966) pays tribute to one of the greatest American poets of the 20th century. In an early poem, Frank O’Hara wrote that he could only think of “the critic” as “the assassin/of [his] orchards.” The writers and artists whose contributions are gathered here give the lie to this somber metaphor as they engage with critical modes of reading poetry as supple and attentive to Frank O’ Hara’s oeuvre as his poems were to the world and to his beloved New York City. Ranging from academic essays to practice-based criticism, the texts collected here provide multiple entry points into the work of the poet and reveal the extent of his influence on contemporary American letters and culture.