Talking To The Sun At Fire Island

Frank O’Hara’s poem “A True Account of Talking to the Sun at Fire Island” is a fun account of the speaker’s encounter with the actual sun. This poem is not only fun, but a great comic pat on the back for both the speaker and even the reader. It’s nice to think that the Sun took time out of its busy schedule of waking up the earth’s inhabitants to give the speaker some words of encouragement and to let him know that his work is appreciated. The opening line, “The sun woke me up this morning loud / and clear,” (1) which was amusing because the sun usually signals the beginning of the day already, but this sun took it a step further and vocally woke the speaker. However the speaker reacted much more calmly that I would have. The sun would have been met with maniacal screams and running away faster than humanly possible.
In the beginning of the
Rather than formatting this encounter as a typical poem, O’Hara writes this as if he were telling a friend about the meeting, which only lends to the poems message. This poem is successful in conveying what the speaker has experienced, and with its conversational tone, the message of encouragement can be appreciated by many. The poem’s conversational, and humorous tone was what made me enjoy this poem so much. It offers such a positive experience for both the reader and the speaker of the poem. Complementing the speaker, the Sun remarks, “You may / not be the greatest thing on earth, but / you’re different” (29-31), which are words I think many can relate to. The Sun’s visit is concluded with some words of advice for the poet, “always embrace things, people earth / sky stars, as I do / freely and with the appropriate sense of space” (65-67), in addition to offering advice the sun also sneaks in a hidden apology for coming so physically close to the speaker, but it’s the sun so I imagine it’s not one to make a straight-forward