Imitation Poetry: Frank O'Hara

For an assignment, I had to create an imitation poem from any of the poems we have studied this semester. I chose to use Frank O'Hara's Having a Coke with You. Here's a link to the original: Having a Coke with You

And here's my poem, Sharing Popcorn at the Movies with You...


Sharing Popcorn at the Movies with You

means more to me than prosciutto at The Porch, fancy folded napkins at Fearing’s
or having a stranger dressed in black pull out a chair for me at that posh place in uptown
partly because in your jeans and t-shirt you look like a modern day James Dean
partly because of my love for you, partly because of your love for Nick Hornby films
partly because of the familiar glow of lights on the steps when they dim the theater
partly because of the smiles we exchange during quirky indie previews
the room rustles with clicking boxes of Milk Duds and crinkly Twizzlers packs but we
are as still and silent as the lone rocking chair in the opening credits and sway only to
periodically reach for our shared red straw and remember that we are seated in red
reclined cushions and our faces are illuminated reflections of Hollywood dreams

and the picture show seems like all the others we’ve seen before, only varied
you suddenly wonder if you should maybe become a screenwriter too

                                                                                                                                                           I gaze
at you and I would rather gaze at you than all the handsome heroes who grace the screen
except possibly for Humphrey Bogart occasionally, and anyway, he’s too old for me but
thank heavens you haven’t seen Sabrina yet so we can rent it together the first time
and the fact that you never let me pay for my ticket and let me hold the popcorn and pass
the coke when I haven’t yet asked puts to shame most male leads in those awful
chick-flicks that most girls swoon over and what good is it to create romantic shams who
don’t exist for susceptible singles who believe anything Sex and the City tells them about
how to find love when you can find something real and substantial that won’t let you
down because you don’t expect him to magically appear when you trip over something
insignificant like a feather and almost get hit by a car

        it seems like everyone is tricked into overlooking a real-life romance
which is not going to happen to me which is why I’m discussing it with you