Introduction

Some stories begin with curiosity, but end up uncovering something far more personal. This is exactly what happens in Also a Poet, a memoir that starts with an attempt to write a biography of the iconic New York poet Frank O’Hara and quickly turns into something deeper: a tender, layered exploration of family, legacy, and longing. As the author, Ada Calhoun, revisits her father’s abandoned project on O’Hara, she begins to unravel not just the threads of the poet’s life, but the tangled emotional fabric between herself and her father. What she finds is a complicated inheritance—intellectual, emotional, and creative—that forces her to examine what it means to tell someone else’s story, and in the process, understand your own.

Summary

In chasing the story of a poet and unpacking the legacy of her father, the author uncovers something deeper—an emotional bridge between memory and identity. Also a Poet isn't just about art or biography; it’s about how we try to make sense of what we inherit and the stories we choose to tell in return. What starts as a literary investigation ends as a beautifully unresolved meditation on love, loss, and the messy grace of understanding.

The Biography That Wasn’t Meant to Be

At first glance, the memoir begins with a straightforward idea: to write the biography of Frank O’Hara, the magnetic mid-century poet whose spontaneous, vivid verses captured the spirit of New York City. But almost immediately, the project is met with resistance. The guardians of O’Hara’s estate, especially his sister, refuse to grant permission to quote his poetry—effectively blocking any traditional biography. This rejection is a mirror of the same roadblock her father encountered decades earlier when he too had tried...