is even more fun than going to San Sebastian, Irún, Hendaye, Biarritz, Bayonne
or being sick to my stomach on the Travesera de Gracia in Barcelona
partly because in your orange shirt you look like a better happier St. Sebastian
partly because of my love for you, partly because of your love for yoghurt
partly because of the fluoresent orange tulips around the birches
partly because of the secrecy our smiles take on before people and statuary
it is hard to believe when I'm with you that there can be anything as still as solemn as unpleasantly definitive as statuary
when right in front of it in the warm New York 4 o'clock light we are drifting back and forth between each other like a tree breathing through its spectacles
and the portrait show seems to have no faces in it at all, just paint
you suddenly wonder why in the world anyone ever did them I look at you and I would rather look at you than all the portraits in the world
except possibly for the Polish Rider occasionally and anyway it's in the Frick which thank heavens you haven't gone to yet so we can go together the first time
and the fact that you move so beautifully more or less takes care of Futurism
just as at home I never think of the Nude Descending a Staircase or at a rehearsal a single drawing of Leonardo or Michelangelo that used to wow me
and what good does all the research of the Impressionists do them when they never got the right person to stand near the tree when the sun sank
or for that matter Marino Marini when he didn't pick the rider as carefully as the horse
it seems they were all cheated of some marvellous experience which is not going to go wasted on me which is why I am telling you about it
-Frank O'Hara (1960)
There's no denying that this is a contrived consumerist holiday. I get that. But today finds me thinking of The Missus and the above poem. It's one of my all-time favorites and was read with aplomb by the honorable K. P. O'Fagan II at our wedding. I've always loved the idea of Valentine's Day, and given that this is the TENTH such holiday we've spent together, I'm finding myself ruminating on it even more intently than I usually do.
So, raise a glass with me and let's all give a toast to my lovely, lovely wife. "Alla salute", baby. "Cin, cin..."
3 comments:
A toast to your Missus, we all know she deserves it. In fact, a toast to all our ladies, for they all deserve it(what they usually get is just us and you and I both know that ain't much and too much all wrapped in to one). Much love to you both from Omaha, hope your Valentine's is magical and full of crazy good sex!
Honey, it's just lovely. Thank you. What a nice shout out. If only Dustin knew that our Valentine's was filled with rock salt and dog and Duane Reade shopping bags. Oh well, guess that's partly the beauty of 10 of them together. Perhaps the urgency and excitement of unfamiliarity goes missing, but the story only deepens.
Oh, Kate. We spent our Valentine's apart. I worked till 5, Wend went to class at 5:30. She got home at nine we watched the tube till ten and then fell asleep. Nothing romantic and no one got mad..that is true love. Familiarity is bliss, family is heaven.
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