Quote of the Day (Frank O'Hara, on ‘The Spent Purpose of a Perfectly Marvellous Life’)

“The spent purpose of a perfectly marvellous
life suddenly glimmers and leaps into flame
it's more difficult than you think to make charcoal
it's also pretty hard to remember life's marvellous
but there it is guttering choking then soaring
in the mirrored room of this consciousness
it's practically a blaze of pure sensibility
and however exaggerated at least somethings going on
and the quick oxygen in the air will not go neglected
will not sulk or fall into blackness and peat.”—American poet and art critic Frank O'Hara (1926-1966), “In Favor of One's Time,” Poetry Magazine, May 1960, reprinted in The Poetry Anthology, 1912-2002: Ninety Years of America's Most Distinguished Verse Magazine, edited by Joseph Parisi and Stephen Young (2002)