Frank O'Hara

TO THE POEM 

Let us do something grand 

just this once          Something 

small and important and 
unAmerican          Some fine thing 

will resemble a human hand 
and really be merely a thing 

Not needing a military band 
nor an elegant forthcoming 

to tease spotlights or a hand 
from the public’s thinking 

But be          In a defiant land 
of its own a real right thing