I thought of Frank O’Hara on the Lunar New Year
I said to myself

Geological strata sink and shear into conflicting opinions, the problem an impossible knot
My shoes still haven’t broken in, one more phantom enemy
The event is yet to happen, but

Frank O’Hara says
in a sense we're all winning
we're alive , though he died at only forty
defeated by a reckless young couple

Defeated, we’re alive, at least
for now

Today, thinking of O’Hara again
I have to admit that I’m defeated by him
along with all the defeated who say
in a sense
we all lose