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On "The Day Lady Died"
Anthony Libby
The extreme vividness of "The Day Lady Died" depends not so much on visualization as evocation; aprecise state of consciousness is delineated largely through the abstract color of proper names. The poem's
final image"she !hispered a song along the eyboard"is enormously effective# in part because it is
almost the poem's only image.
$rom "%&ara on the (ilver )ange." Contemporary Literature*+,-/.
0eal 1o!ers
As an elegy for 1illie oliday# the poem could easily follo! tradition and have the !hole !orld mourn
her loss; instead# things go on as usual# and the only odd occurrence involves 2iss (till!agon at the ban#
!ho "doesn't even loo up my balance for once in her life." Apart from that small act of grace# the city is
its normal self# and %'ara follo!s his routine up to the moment of buying "a 034 5%)6 7%(T !ith
her face on it"8
and 9 am s!eating a lot by no! and thining of
leaning on the :ohn door in the (7%T
!hile she !hispered a song along the eyboard
to 2al 4aldron and everyone and 9 stopped breathing
The climax is the discovery of "Lady's" death and the indelible memory of one soft song that lives on# butthe poem is essentially about adayinthelife of $ran %'ara and his city. Death is one of many random
things that could punctuate and focus the seemingly unconnected activities of an other!ise typical day#
maing everything from a shoeshine to a bottle of (trega purchased in a liim 3lledge# ed.Frank O'Hara: To Be True to a City.?niversity of 2ichigan
7ress# +,,@.
6evin (tein
The tone at the opening of the poem is giddy and excited. After all# this is a some!hat glib speaer !ho is
readying himself for dinner at the home of someone he doesn't no!# !ho can smartalecly refer to the
"poets of Bhana#" !ho is prone to "stroll" and "casually as" for cigarettes# and !ho can "practically" go
"to sleep !ith
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results in image# scene# a moment of experience !hich itself is of ultimate value. The present moment and
the remembered one do not reim 3lledge. ?niversity of
2ichigan 7ress# +,,@.
1rad Booch
The ne!s of oliday's death led %'ara to thin bac to the last time he had heard her sing. 2s fullestexposure to her had been t!o years earlier at Loe!'s (heridan on (eventh Avenue and T!elfth (treet in
the summer %f +,- !hen she had appeared a fe! hours late for her midnight sho!. (he !as forced to
perform in the cavernous old movie theatre because she !as not permitteddue to an arrest for heroin
useto sing in a bar that served drins. "4e didn't leave#" recalls 9rma urley# !ho accompanied %'ara
along !ith 2ie Boldberg# >oan 2itchell# and 0orman 1luhm. "$ran said# '9 !ill !ait.' 9 thin she !as
coming from 7hiladelphia. (he finally arrived pretty zoned out. 1ut she did sing." %'ara's reaction to
her performance !as as exhilarated as his reaction to >udy Barland's sho! at the 7alace Theatre# after
!hich he had commented to >ohn 1utton# "4ell# 9 guess she's better than 7icasso." 1ut the last time
%'ara had heard oliday sing !as at the $ive (pot# a :azz bar on $ifth (treet and Third Avenue at
=ooper (ohn =oltrane# %rnette =oleman# Thelonious
2on# or =harlie 2ingus. 6enneth 6och and Larry )ivers had begun staging :azzandpoetry evenings
there in response to similar events in (an $rancisco initiated by Allen Binsberg and 6enneth )exroth. %ne
night 6och had read his poems !ith the accompaniment of 2al 4aldron# a blac pianist !ho usually
accompanied oliday. (he sho!ed up to visit !ith 4aldron and later in the night !as persuaded to brea
the la! by singing. "9t !as very close to the end of her life# !ith her voice almost gone# :ust lie a
!hisper# :ust lie the taste of very old !ine# but full of spirit#" recalls 6och. "3verybody !anted her to
sing. 3verybody !as crazy about her. (he sang some songs in this very !hispery beautiful voice. The
place !as
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%'ara# !ho had been silent about the matter throughout the trip# pulled a poem out of his pocet that he
announced he had :ust !ritten that afternoon and read it straight do!n to its concluding stanza8
and 9 am s!eating a lot by no! and thining of
leaning on the :ohn door in the (7%T
!hile she !hispered a song along the eyboardto 2al 4aldron and everyone and 9 stopped breathing
$rom City Poet: The Life and Times of Frank OHara. =opyright C +,, by 1rad Booch.
)obert von allberg
amburger indeed. The contours seem to have been shaved off the experience the poem reports. 7oetry
from 0e! 5or or Bhana# Eerlaine# esiod# 1rendan 1ehan# or Benet *lines +F+G/8 the time# the place
*trains named after "points in time#" as they say/# even the language matters little. The !hole !orld and all
of history is right there in 2anhattan# on +- >uly +,,# for the buying# piece by piece# of (trega#Bauloises# 7icayunes *lines H+H/. Distance is reduced by the pulp press# !hich is dominated by the
lo!ermiddle class *theNe!ork Post" not the Times/; poetry# modernism# these international zones of
experience have no special force here. A? art is brought close not by tradition# as 3liot had said# but by
mass production# cheapness.
All principles for arraying emphasis and registering discriminations have been flattened. The rhyme in the
third fine is only a chance thing# and the first of the poem's nineteen "and"s *in the same line/ maes an
arbitrary connection. And as syntax and prosody go# so does social order8 %'ara says that he !ill be the
dinner guest of strangers that night and then recounts his efforts to find suitable gifts for 7atsy and 2ie#
!ho are made to seem his hosts." This easy familiarity# %'ara suggests7atsy# 2ie# Lindashould notbe too easily sniffed at; the reference to the !ellno!n translator of omer invoes an ancient sanction
for gift giving and the entertaining of strangers and for paratactic syntax. The po!er of the poem is in its
inadvertent# banal approach to an earnest genre8 the sub:ect of the elegy does not even emerge until the
poem is nearly complete# as though the great theme *death/ can no! only be taled around8
... a 034 5%)6 7%(T !ith her face on it
and 9 am s!eating a lot by no! and thining of
leaning on the :ohn door in the (7%T
!hile she !hispered a song along the eyboard
to 2al 4aldron and everyone and 9 stopped breathing.
1eside the example of 1illie oliday# !ell eroded by the time she !ored !ith 2al 4aldron *+,-
+,,/#Partisan #e$iecomplaints about the difficulty of maing art in a culture so leveled by mass
culture as America !as in +,, sound disingenuous. $or most of her career# her audiences !ere small and
sometimes difficult of access. 9n +,F- the 0e! 5or 7olice Department denied her a cabaret licence# as
many other :azz musicians !ere similarly punished for drug offenses. *During her final illness# she !as
arrested in her 0e! 5or hospital room for illegal possession of drugs./ (he !as a singer !ho ne! !ell
ho! difficult reaching a fit audience might be# but even in her decline# %'ara says# she too one's breath
a!ay and this elegy is literally directed at the renovation of that clichI of massculture advertising# the
"breathtaing performance." The poem ends !ith much more than the apparent universal s!oon for a
great torch singer. "3veryone#" he says in the last line# suggesting that a poet might !ell tae pleasure in+,, from the fact that some art can directly reach us all# and that nearly all art# African# $rench# and 9rish#
http://www.amazon.com/City-Poet-Times-Frank-OHara/dp/0060976136/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1292374746&sr=1-2http://www.amazon.com/City-Poet-Times-Frank-OHara/dp/0060976136/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1292374746&sr=1-28/14/2019 On ''the Day Lady Died''
4/23
can be had no! for the asing. The 1astille had been stormed# and if it turned out to be emptier than
expected only the expectations deserve criticism. 0e! 5or# even theNe !ork Post" !as moving still.
$rom%meri&an poetry and Cuture" ()*+,()-. =opyright C +,G by the 7resident and $ello!s of
arvard =ollege.
=harles Altieri
7aul =arroll is the first critic 9 no! to claim a really influential role for %'ara in the poetry of the
sixties. . . .
e maes clear for poets ho! the dada and expressionist doctrines of creation can !or for them# for his
poems continually insist that they are not representations of reality but the enactment by the artist of
certain attitudes and choices !ithin that reality. =onse
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attention to the rush of time piling up details united only by seohn 1arth has called "the literature of exhaustion." 0ot only poetry# but even some of the basic values of
civilized life can be discovered by pushing further than the past into the manifold particulars and the
texture of domestic contemporary life.
$rom/nar0in0 the Tempe: Ne 1ire&tions in %meri&an Poetry durin0 the ()2s. =opyright C +,-, by
Associated ?niversity 7resses# 9nc.
=harles 2oles!orth
The alienation and confusion of urban life# especially at the street level# come into disorienting focus !ith
the ne!s of the death of 1illie oliday# the :azz singer !hose selfdestructiveness *"eroin ills you the
slo! !ay"/ clearly mesmerizes %'ara !hen it is transformed into a lyrical !hisper. The poem# for all its
looseness# tries to mimic that improvisational
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some tragic "event#" serve as a sudden# crude displacement of our reverie. %bviously# more people in
America could recognize and empathize !ith the structuring e$ent in %'ara's poem than !ith the
e
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suspended sensibility of the speaers. 9nstead of !hat !e find in 1ishop# a !orld of aesthetic ob:ects
considered !ith fond irony# !e discover in %'ara's poem a gathering of mundane ob:ects fondled by an
aestheticizing irony. *9t mayalso be instructive to notice that in both poems the speaer gradually moves
his or her o!n affective response to the foreground as the poem ends./ 1ut the t!o attitudes are similar in
their gesture of holding up an ob:ect taen from its context# "lifted" in the several meanings of that !ord#
and using that ob:ect as a ind of cathexis for other!ise unformulable recognitions. This pattern is one ofthe traditional forms of lyric poetry"to be sure# but here it enables us to focus on ho! American lyric
poets !ant to approach the !orld of ob:ects but often do so by falling bac on traditional methods.
$rom The Fier&e /mbra&e: % 4tudy of Contemporary %meri&an Poetry. =opyright C +,-, by the =urators
of the ?niversity of 2issouri.
2ar:orie 7erloff
"9n one brief poem#" Ted 1errigan said in his obituary essay on %'ara# "he seemed to create a !hole ne!
ind of a!areness of feeling# and by this a !hole ne! ind of poetry# in !hich everything could be itselfand still be poetry." 4hat 1errigan means here# 9 thin# is that %'ara dispenses !ith all the traditional
props of elegythe statement of lament# the consolation motif# the procession of mourners# the pathetic
fallacy# and so onand still manages to pay an intensely moving tribute to the great :azz singer. 9t is not an
easy feat. 9n his o!n earlier elegies# for example the four poems prompted by the sudden tragic death of
the young >ames Dean in +,# %'ara often maes a straightfor!ard statement of lament and complaint#
thus rising sentimentality# much as 4illiam =arlos 4illiams does in his "3legy for D. . La!rence#"
!hich begins8
Breen points on the shrub
and poor La!rence deadthe night damp and misty
and La!rence no more in the !orld
to ans!er April's promise
!ith a fury of labor
against !aste# !aste and life's
coldness.
%'ara avoids the bathos inherent in such a frontal attac by maing no reference at all to Lady Day until
the t!entyfifth line of his poem# and then only obli
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heard/" disproves his expectations by not looing up his "balance for once in her life." e cannot decide
!hat boo to buy for 7atsy (outhgate and practically goes to sleep "!ith
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This extraordinary man lay !ithout a pillo! in a bed that looed lie a large crib.... e !as purple
!herever his sin sho!ed through the !hite hospital go!n. e !as a
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9f that is so# then there are also good reasons for rethining the categories of surface and depth that have
come to plague our debates about cultural politics in the t!o decades since %'ara died# or# more exactly#
ever since 7op inaugurated the ind of culture# no!n today as postmodernist# !hich seems to tae itself
at face value. A culture of surface is not simply a culture that declares its immunity to historical anxiety; it
is also a culture that has become suspicious of istory !ith a capital # moving !ith a!esome solemnity
and depth through our lives# a culture !hich recognizes that history# for the most part# is also made out ofparticulars by people !hose everyday acts do not al!ays add up to the grand aggregates of canonical
martyrdom that mae for reapolitics.
9n fact# it is a commonly held vie! that# !hen it comes to politics# cultural texts are east successful !hen
they are long on militant fiber *and short on pleasure/; in other !ords# !hen they are at their mostarticulate
or didactic# and !hen their explicit relation to the political is there for all to read# and to be deferred to or
bro!beaten by. 9ndeed# most of the cultural texts !e encounter are protopoliticalthey express an
imaginary relation to real conditions of oppression or resistance# a relation that is often difficult
to read" not least because of its contradictions# but more generally because it is expressed in a symbolic
form. Texts# in other !ords# spea more than they say# even !hen they seem to be about "surface things."
4e have learnt to recognize this state of affairs as the !or of ideology# often vie!ed by left critics interms similar to the !or of (atan. 1ut there are good reasons# 9 thin# for preferring the term
protopolitical to the term ideological. 7rotopolitical# for example# suggests submerged a&ti$ity" !hile
ideological suggests unremittingpassi$ity7protopolitical suggests embryonic# or future forms# !hile
ideological suggests the oppressive !eight of the past extending into the present. (o too# in looing at
texts that occur "else!here#" !hether in time or place# !e ought to be encouraged to loo for the
protopolitical in those things that &anbe said# rather than in !hat cannot be said!hat is suppressed# in
short# by the !or of ideology.
To illustrate generally !hat 9 mean# 9 have taen the example of one of %'ara's best no!n poems# "The
Day Lady Died." 9t !as !ritten in +,@# a ind of prepolitical age!hich is to say# an age that preexists
the more explicit formation# in the sixties# of the ind of political culture !hich most of us have come to
live and breathe. 9t !as !ritten esehere" in that prelapsarian period of innocencebefore the breaup of
consensus liberalism# before the conspiracy climate of all post6ennedy ideology# before the sixties
"changed everything"a period that has been celebrated# for over a decade no!# in that glut of yuppie
nostalgia culture that stretches from%meri&an 8raffiti to1irty 1an&in0. 9t !as !ritten by a poet# as 9
have suggested# !hose blithe disregard for politics is e
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available here# not through 3liotic tradition# but through the benefits of mass production and cheapness.
The last stanza# ho!ever# suggests that there are some cultural experiences. that are literally priceless and
that therefore lie beyond the realm of paperbac discount shopping8
and 9 am s!eating a lot by no! and thining of
leaning on the :ohn door in the (7%T!hile she !hispered a song along the eyboard
to 2al 4aldron and everyone and 9 stopped breathing
This memory of a "live" 1illie oliday moment# !ith its extreme effect on the motor functions of the
bodys!eating# constricted breathingcontrasts !ith the somnolent# lo!ey anxiety of "itterbugs#" Amiri 1araa put the matter more succinctly8 "though yr mind is
some!here else# your ass ain't." 1araa is addressing himself more to the contradictions of ghetto realism
than to the romantic spirit of the !hite bohemian in ritual thrall to the spectacle of :azz performance. 1ut
his tone here might serve as an earthy corrective to the rapt mood of %'ara's last stanza. 9n fact# if !e
loo bac through the poem# beginning !ith the encounter in the first stanza !ith the probably blac
shoeshine boy# !ho may be !orried about ho! he is going to be fed in a !ay that is different from the
poet's anxiety about his unno!n hosts in 3asthampton# !e begin to see ho! the references to
postcolonial "0egritude"Benet'sLes N90resand those "poets in Bhana"have indirectly# perhaps even
unconsciously# prepared the reader for the final confrontation !ith American "negritude."
1y +,,# scenes of :azz idolatry on the part of !hite intellectuals had become a commonplace# if not a
clichI# especially in the poetry !orld !here the 1eat cult of hipsterdom had become an ob:ect of national
media attention. 4hat is striing#ho!ever# is that %'ara is not lie that; he is not that kind of poet. (ure#
he fre
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gains of multiculturalismJ The po!er of !hite liberal fantasies# centered upon the idolizing of the purity
of blac culture and its fine artsJ %r the prospect of fully integrated dance floorsblac and !hite bodies
moving to recognizably blac rhythms# and the other racial crossovers !hich roc and roll culture has
generated ever since its scandalous originJ
$or !hite intellectuals# the sacred spectacle of the spontaneous :azz performer !as underscored# amongother things# by a highly romantic form of racism. 9t suggested that !or !as simply an extension of a
ind of presocial culture that !as at ease !ith play and had mastered leisure; in other !ords# maing :azz
!as !or that didn't loo lie !or# by people !ho !eren't supposed to no! the difference. 9n %'ara's
poem# !hat 1illie oliday does comes "naturally." er languorous "!hisper#" by contrast# precipitates an
unnatural response# a near cardiovascular attac# on the poet's part# !hich can be compared# diametrically#
!ith the nonchalance that he had earlier displayed during his bout of compulsive buying. Then# !hat !as
most selfconscious about consuming had been made to seem lie the most natural thing in the !orld.
">ust" strolling in here and there# and "casually" asing for this and that# at once indecisive and pragmatic
in his purchasing# he had behaved almost lie a practiced shoplifter# carefully covering his tracs !ith a
!hole range of consumer rituals. 1ut# for all of its !oredat insouciance# the art of consuming# unlie the
art of the :azz singer# proves to be hard !or8 after a !hile# he's "s!eating a lot#" unlie Lady Day# !ho isremembered as the very image of cool. 3ven no!# !hen she literally has stopped breathing# it is the poet
!ho taes on her symptoms as he reads of her death in the ne!spaper.
That it is a Lady Day and not a =harlie 7arer being commemorated in this !ay is# of course# %'ara's
o!n personal touch. As a gay poet# and one of the most spontaneous of all camp !riters# it is no surprise
to find that it is a !oman singer !ho shares the billing along !ith the goddesses of the screen !hom he
celebrates in other poems. 9n fact# %'ara's most celebrated camp line occurs in a poem in !hich the poet
sees a ne!spaper headline announcing that "LA0A T?)03) A( =%LLA7(3DK" 9t ends thus8
9 have been to lots of parties
and acted perfectly disgraceful
but 9 never actually collapsed
oh Lana Turner !e love you get up
(urvivalist exhortations of this sort lie at the very heart of camp's insistence that the sho! must go on# that
irony and parody can redeem even the most tragic and sordidevents# !hich color everyday life. The last
years of >udy Barland's life# for example# in !hich she transformed her career role as a selfdestructive
loser into that of a reliant# irrepressible fighter# came to exemplify this survivalist spirit for the gay
community# and the final period of 1illie oliday's checered life and career is certainly the closest
e
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The sometimes ma!ish sentimentalism of camp is often seen as an institutionalized expression of self
hatred# and thus adangerous form of acceptance# by an oppressed group# of the oppressor's definition of
the oppressed. Lie the eponymous ">e!ish selfhatred#" or "Tomming " in blac culture# or certain
expressions of "machismo" in Latin cultures# camp is a form of defense constructed by an oppressed group
out of conditions not of its o!n maing. That is !hy it is protopolitical; in other !ords# it is a response to
politically induced oppression# but at the same time# it is a response that accepts its current inability to actin an explicit political manner to combat that oppression. This response taes many covert forms and
baro
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!ell before the coming riots of selfliberation# this !as a mannered !ay of saying tae things into your
o!n hands.
9t seems impossible to end !ithout recalling the elegiac note !ith !hich 9 began# for death is a very
important part of "The Day Lady Died." 4ho can read this poem about 1illie oliday's death !ithout
thining of %'ara's o!n untimely death seven years laterJ 4ho can read it !ithout thining of the deathstoday# from A9D(# of thousands of young homosexual men# lie %'ara# in a culture that is only
beginning to recognize ho! public agendas !or by reorganizing and redefining private responsibilities. 9t
is in this context that %'ara's code of everyday responsibility begins to tae on a ne! ind of sense# three
decades later. 9t is in this context that thesur$i$aism of the camp sensibility# al!ays prepared to deal !ith
an apocalypse of !orst possible outcomes# taes on ne! meanings# !hen danger is located today in the
smallest things in our lives. 9t is in this context# perhaps# that the "surface things" in %'ara's poetry sho!
their unhidden depths.
%riginally appeared inPoeti&s ourna. =opyright C +,G, by Andre! )oss. )eprinted by permission.
2ar:orie 7erloff
Andre! )oss's provocative essay on "The Day Lady Died" . . . argues#
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it is +,, and 9 go get a shoeshine
because 9 !ill get off the F8+, in 3asthampton
at -8+ and then go straight to dinner
and 9 don't no! the people !ho !ill feed me
"Benteel" lady shoppers are hardly liely to go out to the 9sland on a summer $riday afternoon !ithoutno!ing !ith !hom they are going to have dinner. "The people !ho !ill feed me#" moreover# is an odd
!ay of referring to one's hosts8 !ho no!s !hat unladylie things that "feeding" is to includeJ Again# the
sense of immediacy and improvisation is underscored by the reference to getting a shoeshine. )oss's
suggestion that !e need only substitute "hairdresser" for "shoeshine" for the day to reveal itself as a
"lady's day#" curiously misses %'ara's nuance. Ladies' visits to the hairdresser are scheduled and regular
part of the routine of putting oneself together# rather lie brushing one's teeth and putting on maeup in
the morning. 1ut one doesn't schedule a shoeshine or mae an appointment to have one8 one does it *or
rather# a mandoes it/ on the spur of the moment so as to "loo good#" to mae an immediate impression#
especially !hen one doesn't no! "the people !ho !ill feed me." And the further irony is that# !hat !ith
the drining and the partying that could be anticipated at 2ie and 7atsy's# no one !ould notice $ran's
shoeshine any!ay. 9t is merely a !ay of *literally/ putting one's best foot for!ard.
%r consider the lines in the follo!ing stanza8 "9 go on to the ban and 2iss (till!agon *first name Linda
9 once heard/ doesn't even loo up my balance for once in my life." This seemingly casual and irrelevant
reference# far from lining the poet to genteel lady shoppers !ith their "busy social schedules#" has
precisely the opposite effect. 4hat ban teller !ould confront a 2adison Avenue matron by looing up
her balanceJ 4hat matron !ould give so much as a thought to the teller's nameJ The implication of the
lines is that the poet is al!ays selfconscious about being "different"8 polite and friendly as he is at the
ban# 2iss (till!agon evidently perceives him as :ust a bit ournal# "9 often !ish 9 had the strength to commit suicide# but on the other hand# if 9 had# 9 probably!ouldn't feel the need. BodK =an't you let us !in once in a !hileJ" *+@+-FG# 34 +@@/. 9f the sensibility
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here is indeed "gay#" !e must remember that not all gay sensibility of the period Allen Binsberg is a
case in point stries the note of comic pathos# of humor laced !ith tough common sense# and especially
of complex verbal play# that is %'ara's legacy to poetry.
fromFrank OHara: % Poet %mon0 Painters. ? of =hicago 7# +,,-. %nline
http8!ings.buffalo.eduepcauthorsperloffohara.html
>ohn Lo!ney
. . . %'ara's refusal to specify ho! a poem is significant or maes events significant transfers the act of
attention to the reader. There is minimal subordination of seemingly insignificant elements to greater
patterns of meaning in %'ara's "9 do this 9 do that" poems. 1ecause these poems are narrative# the
se
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design other than that of the speaer's lunchtime !al itself. The genre of the poem demands the
reconstruction of design from its disparate details# but the details resist such reconstruction. To insist on a
coherent design that unites the apparently random details is to ris reading too much symbolism into a
poem !hose tone is so casual; to avoid such a ris means accepting the clichI of the spontaneous#
unreflective poet.
There are a number of references to time in "The Day Lady Died#" typical for the lunch poems %&ara
!rote !ith one eye on his !rist!atch but particularly significant for a poem about death. These references
to time are hardly uniform# ho!ever; there is
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olliday in the context of 1astille Day and official oppression of artists# %'ara subtly comments on the
state of the "avantgarde" artist in +,@s America.
All of the actions represented in "The Day Lady Died" are acts of selection# especially the consumer's
selection of !hat to do and !hat to buy for specific social occasions. 2ost of these are automatic or
socially constrained acts of selection# but beginning !ith the decision of the ban teller# "2iss(till!agon#" to not "even loo up my balance for once in her life" *CP# H/# the process of selection
raises fundamental interpretive
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6enneth 6och came and read from the 2anhattan telephone directory !hile )ivers played saxophone.
After!ard 1illie oliday# !ho had !andered in to greet 4aldron# told 6och# "2an# your poems are
!eird." oliday# !hose cabaret card had been revoed because of her heroin use# consented to brea the
la! for one song !hile 4aldron hit the eys. (he sang in a husy !hisper. %'ara stood leaning against
the bathroom door# listening.
aving digested the ne!s of Lady Day's death# %'ara !ent up to his office and typed out a poem# folded
it# and put it into his :acet pocet. 4hen he and >oe Le(ueur arrived in 3ast ampton# 2ie Boldberg
met them in his olive drab 1ugatti# !hich he had bought the previous fall on his and 7atsy's honeymoon in
9taly. Boldberg had brought a Thermos of martinis along# and the friends passed it around as Boldberg
drove them to 1riar 7atch )oad# !here 7atsy !as !aiting. 2ie put on a 1illie oliday record. 7atsy
brought out a tray of hors d'oeuvre# and the four of them sat on the screen porch# !here %'ara announced
that he'd !ritten a poem that afternoon. This is !hat he read8 . . .
"The Day Lady Died" is a classic instance of a poem chronicling its o!n coming into existencePyou can
trace the poet's footsteps up to the moment !hen he sat at his type!riter recapitulating the hour he had :ust
spent. 7art of the poem's charm lies in its mix of populist and elitist elements8 a hamburger and a maltedand "a little Eerlaine#" a trip to the ban to cash a chec# the purchase of exotic cigarettes and liohnson among themP!ho felt that the poem's pastoral
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conventions !ere artificial# that the poem therefore laced sincerity# and that it !as moreover unseemly of
2ilton to acno!ledge# as he does# that one of his motives in !riting this elegy for a dro!ned classmate
!as the hope that he# in turn# !ould be similarly memorialized. As the detractors of "Lycidas" !ere
!rong# so the critics of "The Day Lady Died " mis:udged the poet's conversational ease and seemingly
selfcentered stance. "The Day Lady Died" is a moving elegy not in spite of the poem's preoccupation
!ith the poet's self but because of it; the death of the great singer at age fortyfour occurs as aninterruption# a shoc that the reader is invited to share. The sharpness of the contrast bet!een the vitality
of the living man# attending to the errands and tass of life# and the dead singer is lie a last percussive
note held in an expectant stillness. The poem's breathless ending virtually enacts the death of the "first
lady of the blues" *as theNe !ork Postput it/ !hose nicname# "Lady Day#" is inverted in the poem's
title# a gesture as !itty as it is poignant. To the charge that %'ara is too ironic to be sincere# 9 !ould
borro! the distinction Lionel Trilling made bet!een sincerity and authenticity8 %'ara's suspicion of
sincerity as a rhetorical mode is paradoxically !hat maes his !or more authentic.
A delicious irony about "The Day Lady Died" is that this most casual of utterances !ill# in becoming an
anthology standard# someday re
8/14/2019 On ''the Day Lady Died''
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fromHypers&apes in the Poetry of Frank O'Hara: 1ifferen&e=Homose>uaity=Topo0raphy. Liverpool ?7#
H@@@. =opyright C H@@@ by azel (mith.
2ichael 2agee
"The Day Lady Died" is one of the "9 do this 9 do that poems#" !here the notion that !ords dosupplants
the notion that !ords mean# and !here truth happens to one's !ords in the course of their reception and
redirection. %'ara clearly !ants to celebrate oliday SM but# contrary to most critical vie!s of the
poem# he is !ell a!are of the hazards involved in his undertaing# and the poem is designed so that it
might avoid descending into either "traditional elegy" *1lasing 2utlu 6onu 1lasing#Poiti&s and Form
in Postmodern Poetry: O'Hara" Bishop" %shbery" and
8/14/2019 On ''the Day Lady Died''
22/23
demands" *0athanie 2acey#1is&repant /n0a0ement: 1issonan&e" Cross,Cuturaity" and />perimenta
;ritin0. 0e! 5or8 =ambridge ?7# +,,.M F/. 9 noted earlier ho! %'ara's move to the "free# glamorous
Eillage" coincided !ith Thelonious 2on's famous run !ith >ohn =oltrane at the $ive (pot. 2on's
influence on the young :azz avantgarde that congregated at the $ive (pot *=oltrane# Davis# =ecil Taylor#
%rnette =oleman# and others/ !as profound S.M 2oreover# 2on's influence extended beyond young
:azz musicians to include young poets such as 1araa# (pellman# and =reeley. %'ara# 9 thin# belongs inthis mix8 the inds of associations 2acey maes bet!een =reeley and 1araa and 2on# Taylor# and
=oleman might :ust as valuably be made bet!een these musicians and %'ara S.M And !hat !e have in
the milieu of the $ive (pot is an instance !here artists involved in different mediums !ere consciously
tampering !ith each otherconsciously transgressing the la! of genrein order to invent ne! forms of
democratic symbolic action. 9nsofar as %'ara's "The Day Lady Died" represents activity in the $ive (pot#
it is one of these ne! forms.
....
4hat is most interesting to me about the conclusion to "The Day Lady Died" is that it is a practical
application of 7ersonism8
and 9 am s!eating a lot by no! and thining of
leaning on the :ohn door in the (7%T
!hile she !hispered a song along the eyboard
to 2al 4aldron and everyone and 9 stopped breathing
To !hom did oliday !hisper# and !ho stopped breathingJ The absence of punctuation is an impediment#
precludes a definitive ans!er. Did she !hisper "to 2al 4aldron and everyone" or only to "2al 4aldron#"
her fello! blac :azz musician# and to no one elseJ And !hat of "9#" !hich# in such a chatty# vernacular
poem# seems to !ant to be an indirect ob:ect despite the rules of grammarJ Then# if "everyone" and "9" are
separate ob:ects# did oliday !hisper "to 2al 4aldron and everyone" or "to 2al 4aldron and everyone
and 9"that is# has %'ara someho! been left out of the communicative loopJ 4hether %'ara heard and
ho! he heard are only tentatively defined. 4hat !e have as evidence of his reception are a physiological
response *"stopped breathing"/ and the !riting of a poem called "The Day Lady Died." 4hat !e do not
have is anything !e might confidently call "understanding" or "no!ing." The fact that !e cannot decide
!hether the members of this collective are sub:ects or ob:ects has the uncanny effect of obscuring their
position in space. 2uch is dependent on !hether 4aldron and %'ara can both be included in
"everyone"Pthe only noun !hich# in true grammatical fashion# occupies the position of both sub:ect and
ob:ect. And here is the genius of %'ara's invention8 4aldron and %'ara are irreconcilable sub:ects
mediated by a collective "everyone" !hich creates the potential position bet!een sub:ect and ob:ect#
though neither of them occupies it alone# and their inclusion is dependent on dispensing !ith thegrammatical la!s that !ould separate them.
S.M To observe is to be overcome !ith# first# a sense of anesthesia *blurring to the point of blindness/
and# second# the need for a synesthetic leap of faith8 the "privileged eye" *"9"/ is supplanted by an
unnamed actor !ho chooses verse *versatility/ over verity *verisimilitude/. $aced !ith the irresolvable
tangle of sub:ects and ob:ects# the operative metaphor becomes not the eye but the eyboard8 "she
!hispered aon0the eyboard." %'ara's choice of prepositions has the effect of emphasizing :ust
ho! on0the eyboard is# to the exclusion of several common definitions of "ey"8 "something that
secures or controls entrance to a place"; "a systematic explanation of symbols." The multiplicity of
interpretive possibilities implied by the eyboard puts to rest these more confining definitions. 3ven the
common musical definitionP"the relationship perceived bet!een all tones in a given unit of music and asingle tone or ey note"P!on't accommodate %'ara's verbal play. $or oliday does notsin0 ina ey
http://www.amazon.com/Discrepant-Engagement-Dissonance-Cross-Culturality-Experimental/dp/052110999X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1292374330&sr=1-1http://www.amazon.com/Discrepant-Engagement-Dissonance-Cross-Culturality-Experimental/dp/052110999X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1292374330&sr=1-1http://www.amazon.com/Discrepant-Engagement-Dissonance-Cross-Culturality-Experimental/dp/052110999X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1292374330&sr=1-1http://www.amazon.com/Discrepant-Engagement-Dissonance-Cross-Culturality-Experimental/dp/052110999X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1292374330&sr=1-1http://www.amazon.com/Discrepant-Engagement-Dissonance-Cross-Culturality-Experimental/dp/052110999X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1292374330&sr=1-18/14/2019 On ''the Day Lady Died''
23/23
but# rather#hispers aon0 a eyboard. 9n doing so she gestures outside the realm of 4estern musical
notation.
....
2oreover# %'ara's poem erects a generational bridge !hen it introduces 2al 4aldron. 9t is clear enoughthat# as the final scene of "The Day Lady Died" taes place in the $ive (pot# one !ould have to at least
loosely associate it !ith the aesthetic environment of that venue. 1ut the fact that 4aldron is one of the
players should provoe further scrutiny. Booch identifies 4aldron as "a blac pianist !ho usually
accompanied oliday" *HG/# but this is misleading in its suggestion that 4aldron !ould have been
identified by the $ive (pot community simply as oliday's pianist. 9n fact# 4aldron !as an important
member of the :azz avantgarde !ho figured prominently in groups led by =harles 2ingus and 3ric
Dolphy among others# and !ho !as heavily influenced by 2on. S.M The point is that by the time
%'ara composed "The Day Lady Died#" 4aldron's significance as a player lay much more clearly !ith
the :azz musicians being touted by 1araa than !ith 1illie oliday. S.M %ur reading of the "!hisper
along the eyboard" should tae into account the fact that %'araPas an accomplished pianist familiar
!ith 2on# =ecil Taylor# and 4aldron and conversing !ith *and reading/ 1araa !as a!are of theimminent :azz experiments in liberating "ey" from even its flexible meaning as defined in bop
improvisation.
from "Tribes of 0e! 5or8 $ran %'ara# Amiri 1araa# and the 7oetics of the $ive (pot#" Contemporary
LiteratureFH no. F *4inter H@@+/8 ,F-H.
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