Meditations in an Emergency

For the Mad Men episode, see Meditations in an Emergency (Mad Men).

Meditations in an Emergency

First edition
Author	Frank O'Hara
Language	English
Publisher	Grove Press
Publication date	1957 [1]
ISBN	978-0-8021-3452-3

Meditations in an Emergency is a book of poetry by American poet Frank O'Hara, first published by Grove Press in 1957. Its title poem was first printed in the November 1954 issue of Poetry: A Magazine of Verse . ^[2]

The name of the book is purported to derive from English poet John Donne's prose work, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions , stemming from a joke between O'Hara and other members of the renowned New York School of poets. ^[3] Critics have noted the influence of impressionism and abstract expressionism in the collection, with most of the poems detailing the theme of identity and everyday life in New York City.

The book is dedicated to painter Jane Freilicher. ^[1]

Poems

• To the Harbormaster
• Poem: "The eager note on my door..."
• To the Film industry in Crisis
• Poem: "At night Chinamen jump"
• Blocks
• Les Etiquette jaunes
• Aus einem April
• River
• Poem: "There I could never be a boy"
• On Rachmaninoff's Birthday
• The Hunter
• For Grace, After a Party
• On Looking at "La Grande Jatte," the Czar Wept Anew
• Romanze, or The Music Students
• The Three-Penny Opera
• A Terrestrial Cuckoo
• Jane Awake
• A Mexican Guitar
• Chez Jane
• Two Variations
• Ode
• Invincibility
• Poem in January
• Meditations in an Emergency
• For James Dean
• Sleeping on the Wing
• Radio
• On Seeing Larry Rivers' "Washington Crossing the Delaware" at the Museum of Modern Art
• For Janice and Kenneth to Voyage
• Mayakovsky

References

1. O'Hara, Frank (1967). Meditations in an Emergency. Grove Press. ISBN   978-0-8021-3452-3.
2. Poetry Foundation. Frank O'Hara: "Meditations in an Emergency" on the website of Poetry: A Magazine of Verse, originally printed November 1954. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
3. "Frank O'Hara's "Meditations in an Emergency" [by DL]".