2 March 2004 | Vol. 4, No. 1

The Killing of Frank O'Hara

                                             after the painting by Alfred Leslie



In other countries, he's a martyr

drawn heavy over the shoulders of sobbing women

on a long silver plate. The rebel forces


fire a twenty-one line salute

from the black barrel of a typewriter,

snapping keys like vertebra.


In a nearby alley, one man touches

another man's cheek with fingerbacks.

They kiss. It's like one tongue.