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World Poetry Translation Project


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Ave Maria

by Frank O'Hara

Mothers of America
let your kids go to the movies
get them out of the house so they won't
know what you're up to
it's true that fresh air is good for the body
but what about the soul
that grows in darkness, embossed by
silvery images
and when you grow old as grow old you
must
they won't hate you
they won't criticize you they won't know
they'll be in some glamorous
country
they first saw on a Saturday afternoon or
playing hookey
they may even be grateful to you
for their first sexual experience
which only cost you a quarter
and didn't upset the peaceful
home
they will know where candy bars come
from
and gratuitous bags of popcorn
as gratuitous as leaving the movie before
it's over
with a pleasant stranger whose apartment
is in the Heaven on
Earth Bldg
near the Williamsburg Bridge
oh mothers you will have made
the little
tykes
so happy because if nobody does pick
them up in the movies
they won't know the difference
and if somebody does it'll be
sheer gravy
and they'll have been truly entertained
either way
instead of hanging around the yard
or up in their room hating you
prematurely since you won't have done
anything horribly mean
yet
except keeping them from life's darker joys
it's unforgivable the latter
so don't blame me if you won't take this
advice
and the family breaks up
and your children grow old and blind in
front of a TV set
seeing
movies you wouldn't let them see when
they were young


American Review | www.PaperLyon.com | McGill Live Radio | Publish
 

  Translations for this Poem
 English  Spanish  French  Italian
 Portuguese  Korean  Russian  Chinese
 Japanese      
 

  Poems by Frank O'Hara
  1. Frank OHara 1951
  2. Frank OHara Ann Arbor Variations
  3. Frank OHara As Planned
  4. Frank OHara At Joans
  5. Frank OHara At Night Chinamen Jump
  6. Frank OHara Autobiographia Literaria
  7. Frank OHara Ave Maria
  8. Frank OHara A City Winter
  9. Frank OHara A Quiet Poem
  10. Frank OHara A Step Away From Them
  11. Frank OHara A True Account Of Talking To The Sun A
  12. Frank OHara Call Me
  13. Frank OHara Chinamen Jump
  14. Frank OHara Digression On Number 1 1948
  15. Frank OHara For Grace After A Party
  16. Frank OHara Homosexuality
  17. Frank OHara Jane Awake
  18. Frank OHara Lines For The Fortune Cookies
  19. Frank OHara Meditations In An Emergency
  20. Frank OHara Melancholy Breakfast
  21. Frank OHara Morning
  22. Frank OHara Music
  23. Frank OHara My Heart
  24. Frank OHara On Seeing Larry Rivers emWashington Cr
  25. Frank OHara Poem Hate Is Only One Of Many Response
  26. Frank OHara Poem Lana Turner has collapsed
  27. Frank OHara Poem O Solo Mio
  28. Frank OHara Song Did you see me walking by the Bui
  29. Frank OHara Song Is it dirty
  30. Frank OHara Spleen
  31. Frank OHara Steps
  32. Frank OHara The Day Lady Died
  33. Frank OHara Today
  34. Frank OHara To The Harbormaster
  35. Frank OHara VR Lang
  36. Frank OHara Why I Am Not A Painter
 
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPRSTVWY[ALL] 
  Frank Bidart 
  Frank O'Hara 
 

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