{"id":72418,"date":"2014-06-11T12:15:42","date_gmt":"2014-06-11T16:15:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=72418"},"modified":"2014-06-11T15:03:12","modified_gmt":"2014-06-11T19:03:12","slug":"lunch-poem-letters-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/11\/lunch-poem-letters-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Lunch Poem Letters"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"LFtoFOH_Lunch_Poems2-4\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Toward the end of college and for several years after, I kept two postcard photographs taped above my desk: one of Ana\u00efs Nin, the other of Frank O\u2019Hara\u2014the mother and father of my literary interests at the time. Nin was a gateway for me into feminist writing and into thinking about creativity and the self. My love for O\u2019Hara, on the other hand, was ecstatic. I was infatuated\u2014and still am\u2014with the conversational tone of his poetry, the ease with which he moves from Russian novels to bad movies, Robert Frost to Busby Berkeley, Bayreuth to Hackensack; his poems are like letters to a friend, and when I read them, I am that friend.<\/p>\n

As collections go, none brings this quality to the fore more than the\u00a0thirty-seven Lunch Poems<\/em>, published in 1964 by City Lights. It is number nineteen in their Pocket Poets Series, an apt category for poems that O\u2019Hara wrote during hour-long lunch breaks from the Museum of Modern Art in New York, where he was a curator. He roved through midtown, recording the \u201cnoisy splintered glare of a Manhattan noon\u201d as well as his \u201cmisunderstandings of the eternal questions of life, co-existence and depth,\u201d as O\u2019Hara himself described the volume\u2014\u201cwhile never forgetting to eat Lunch his favorite meal.\u201d <\/p>\n

Lunch Poems<\/em> turns fifty this year. Tonight, a host of writers will gather at St. Mark\u2019s Church in New York<\/a> to read it and celebrate the \u201cindecision and cognac and bikinis.\u201d (Yesterday, a commemorative plaque was unveiled outside\u00a0O\u2019Hara\u2019s former residence at\u00a0441 East 9th Street.) City Lights\u2019 new reissue of the slim volume includes a clutch of correspondence between O\u2019Hara and Lawrence Ferlinghetti\u2014we\u2019ve reproduced five of these letters below\u2014in which the two poets hash out the details of the book\u2019s publication: which poems to consider, their order, the dedication, and even the title. \u201cDo you still like the title Lunch Poems?\u201d O\u2019Hara asks Ferlinghetti. \u201cI wonder if it doesn\u2019t sound too much like an echo of Reality Sandwiches or Meat Science Essays.\u201d \u201cWhat the hell,\u201d Ferlinghetti replies, \u201cso we\u2019ll have to change the name of City Lights to Lunch Counter Press.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Letter1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0\"Letter2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Letter3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Letter4\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"LFtoFOH_Lunch_Poems2-42\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Letters copyright 2014 by City Lights Books. Reprinted by permission of City Lights Books from the forthcoming <\/em>Lunch Poems: 50th Anniversary Edition<\/a> by Frank O\u2019Hara.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Toward the end of college and for several years after, I kept two postcard photographs taped above my desk: one of Ana\u00efs Nin, the other of Frank O\u2019Hara\u2014the mother and father of my literary interests at the time. Nin was a gateway for me into feminist writing and into thinking about creativity and the self. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2157],"tags":[1556,11607,9154,5733,971,5867,14005,165],"class_list":["post-72418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-on-poetry","tag-anais-nin","tag-anniversary","tag-city-lights-books","tag-correspondence-2","tag-frank-ohara","tag-lawrence-ferlinghetti","tag-lunch-poems","tag-poetry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLunch Poem Letters by Nicole Rudick<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"June 11, 2014 \u2013 Toward the end of college and for several years after, I kept two postcard photographs taped above my desk: one of Ana\u00efs Nin, the other of Frank\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/11\/lunch-poem-letters-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lunch Poem Letters by Nicole Rudick\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"June 11, 2014 \u2013 Toward the end of college and for several years after, I kept two postcard photographs taped above my desk: one of Ana\u00efs Nin, the other of Frank\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/11\/lunch-poem-letters-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-06-11T16:15:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-06-11T19:03:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/lftofoh_lunch_poems2-4.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"373\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nicole Rudick\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nicole Rudick\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/11\/lunch-poem-letters-2\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/11\/lunch-poem-letters-2\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nicole Rudick\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/704545a416a4003f79960597eda16ea7\"},\"headline\":\"Lunch Poem Letters\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-06-11T16:15:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-06-11T19:03:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/11\/lunch-poem-letters-2\/\"},\"wordCount\":405,\"commentCount\":3,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/11\/lunch-poem-letters-2\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/lftofoh_lunch_poems2-4.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Ana\u00efs Nin\",\"anniversary\",\"City Lights Books\",\"correspondence\",\"Frank O'Hara\",\"Lawrence Ferlinghetti\",\"Lunch Poems\",\"poetry\"],\"articleSection\":[\"On Poetry\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/11\/lunch-poem-letters-2\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/11\/lunch-poem-letters-2\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/11\/lunch-poem-letters-2\/\",\"name\":\"Lunch Poem Letters by Nicole Rudick\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/11\/lunch-poem-letters-2\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/11\/lunch-poem-letters-2\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/lftofoh_lunch_poems2-4.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-06-11T16:15:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-06-11T19:03:12+00:00\",\"description\":\"June 11, 2014 \u2013 Toward the end of college and for several years after, I kept two postcard photographs taped above my desk: one of Ana\u00efs Nin, the other of Frank\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/11\/lunch-poem-letters-2\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/11\/lunch-poem-letters-2\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/11\/lunch-poem-letters-2\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/lftofoh_lunch_poems2-4.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/lftofoh_lunch_poems2-4.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/11\/lunch-poem-letters-2\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Lunch Poem Letters\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/704545a416a4003f79960597eda16ea7\",\"name\":\"Nicole Rudick\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3919c879d9238d0b76c8694fb718a056d281636d609611dec99a905095597623?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3919c879d9238d0b76c8694fb718a056d281636d609611dec99a905095597623?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Nicole Rudick\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/nrudick\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Lunch Poem Letters by Nicole Rudick","description":"June 11, 2014 \u2013 Toward the end of college and for several years after, I kept two postcard photographs taped above my desk: one of Ana\u00efs Nin, the other of Frank","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/11\/lunch-poem-letters-2\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Lunch Poem Letters by Nicole Rudick","og_description":"June 11, 2014 \u2013 Toward the end of college and for several years after, I kept two postcard photographs taped above my desk: one of Ana\u00efs Nin, the other of Frank","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/11\/lunch-poem-letters-2\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2014-06-11T16:15:42+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-06-11T19:03:12+00:00","og_image":[{"width":675,"height":373,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/lftofoh_lunch_poems2-4.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Nicole Rudick","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Nicole Rudick","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/11\/lunch-poem-letters-2\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/11\/lunch-poem-letters-2\/"},"author":{"name":"Nicole Rudick","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/704545a416a4003f79960597eda16ea7"},"headline":"Lunch Poem Letters","datePublished":"2014-06-11T16:15:42+00:00","dateModified":"2014-06-11T19:03:12+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/11\/lunch-poem-letters-2\/"},"wordCount":405,"commentCount":3,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/11\/lunch-poem-letters-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/lftofoh_lunch_poems2-4.jpg","keywords":["Ana\u00efs Nin","anniversary","City Lights Books","correspondence","Frank O'Hara","Lawrence Ferlinghetti","Lunch Poems","poetry"],"articleSection":["On Poetry"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/11\/lunch-poem-letters-2\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/11\/lunch-poem-letters-2\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/11\/lunch-poem-letters-2\/","name":"Lunch Poem Letters by Nicole Rudick","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/11\/lunch-poem-letters-2\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/11\/lunch-poem-letters-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/lftofoh_lunch_poems2-4.jpg","datePublished":"2014-06-11T16:15:42+00:00","dateModified":"2014-06-11T19:03:12+00:00","description":"June 11, 2014 \u2013 Toward the end of college and for several years after, I kept two postcard photographs taped above my desk: one of Ana\u00efs Nin, the other of Frank","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/11\/lunch-poem-letters-2\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/11\/lunch-poem-letters-2\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/11\/lunch-poem-letters-2\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/lftofoh_lunch_poems2-4.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/lftofoh_lunch_poems2-4.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/11\/lunch-poem-letters-2\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Lunch Poem Letters"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/704545a416a4003f79960597eda16ea7","name":"Nicole Rudick","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3919c879d9238d0b76c8694fb718a056d281636d609611dec99a905095597623?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3919c879d9238d0b76c8694fb718a056d281636d609611dec99a905095597623?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Nicole Rudick"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/nrudick\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72418"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72418\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72509,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72418\/revisions\/72509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}