TOM CLARK: Frank O'Hara: Spleen

Tuesday 19 April 2016

Frank O'Hara: Spleen

Free tax prep. Los Angeles, California.: photo by michaelj1998, 31 March 2016

This is how it ends: image via Jana Kaspervic @kasperka, 14 April 2016

I know so much
about things, I accept
so much, it's like
vomiting. And I am
nourished by the
shabbiness of my
knowing so much
about others and what
they do, and accepting
so much that I hate
as if I didn't know
what it is, to me.
And what it is to
them I know, and hate.

Frank O'Hara (1926-1966): Spleen, April 1954, from The Collected Poems, 1971

A motorcyclist performs a stunt on a highway in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Crowds of small motorbikes ridden by racers—or Mat Rempit as they are known in Malaysian slang—face off in impromptu races in the Malaysian capital after dark. The decades-old culture is widely frowned upon by largely conservative Malaysians, who fear its potential to encourage gambling, drug abuse, snatch thefts, and sexual promiscuity.: photo by Olivia Harris / Reuters, 7 April 2016

A building is reflected on office windows in the banking area of Panama City, Panama: photo by Carlos Jasso / Reuters, 5 April 2016

The New Shepard rocket and capsule blasts off from a launch site in West Texas in this handout photo provided by Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’s space transportation company. Blue Origin successfully launched and landed for the third time a suborbital rocket capable of whisking six passengers off their home planet, taking another step on the company's quest to develop reusable boosters, the company said on Saturday.: photo by Reuters, 2 April 2016

A mountain lion known as P-35 eating a kill in the Santa Susana Mountains in Southern California in this December 4, 2015 handout photo released to Reuters April 6, 2016.: photo by Jeff Sikich / National Parks Service / Reuters, 4 December 2015

Seville Celebrates The Feria de Abril...SEVILLE, SPAIN - APRIL 13: Bullfighter Manuel Escribano performs with a Vitorino Martin ranch fighting bull during a bullfight at La Maestranza bullring on the second day of the Feria de Abril (April's Fair) on April 13, 2016 in Seville, Spain. The Feria de Abril, which has a history dating back to 1857, takes place a fortnight after Easter each year. The origin of the fair was a cattle market but the event quickly turned its goal from commerce to having fun. More than one million local and international participants are expected to attend to Feria de Abril. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

Bullfighter Manuel Escribano performs with a Vitorino Martin ranch fighting bull during a bullfight at La Maestranza bullring at the Feria de Abril (April’s Fair) in Seville, Spain: photo by David Ramos via FT Photo Diary, 14 April 2016

The Wider Image: The matador...Spanish matador Jose Maria Manzanares holds his bullfighter's "muleta" during a bullfight at the Real Maestranza bullring in the Andalusian capital of Seville, southern Spain April 9, 2016. At the Real Maestranza arena the crowd enjoys a tradition that dates back over a thousand years. Wearing an embroidered gold and white outfit and wielding a long thin sword, the matador taunts the 600-kilo bull with his cape, dodging its horns again and again. Despite the full stands at the bullring, which hosted its first fight in 1761, the sport attracts an increasingly slim audience, as new generations shun what they see as a cruel and unfair fight. Matadors say those who oppose bullfighting don't understand the bullring's intimacy or the artistry of the fight. To finish off the bout, matadors deliver the "estocada," a deft strike through the bull's shoulder blades to pierce its heart. REUTERS/Marcelo del Pozo SEARCH "EL MATADOR" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "THE WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES

Spanish matador Jose Maria Manzanares holds his bullfighter’s “muleta” during a bullfight at the Real Maestranza bullring in the Andalusian capital of Seville, southern Spain: photo by Marcelo del Pozo/Reuters, 18 April 2016

World in focus – best photos for April 9, 2016

Spanish matador Miguel Angel Perera drives a sword into a bull to kill it during a bullfight at The Maestranza bullring in the Andalusian capital of Seville, Spain: photo by Marcelo del Pozo / Reuters, 14 April 2016

Two saltwater crocodiles fight in a vicious duel to the death in the Lakefield National Park on the Cape York Peninsula in Australia’s tropical north. Saltwater crocodiles, which can grow up to seven metres (23 feet) long and weigh more than a tonne, have become increasingly common in Australia’s north since they were declared a protected species in 1971.: photo by Sandra Bell/AFP, 26 October 2015

A hyena eyes a herd of zebra at Lake Nakuru National Park, Kenya: photo by Joe Penney/Reuters, 19 August 2015

The electrical machine builder Oleg Glebov works at the stator windings of a generator in the Erfurt Generator Plant of the German Siemens AG in Erfurt, Germany: photo by Jens Meyer / AP, 12 April 2016

Shanghai's financial district of Pudong, amid heavy smog: photo by Aly Song / Reuters, 14 April 2016

An Air Force Test Pilot School T-38C jet passes in front of the sun at supersonic speed, creating shockwaves that are caught photographically for research, in this photo provided by NASA on April 12, 2016. NASA is using a modern version of a 150-year-old German photography technique -- schlieren imagery -- to visualize supersonic flow phenomena with full-scale aircraft in flight. The results will help engineers to design a quiet supersonic transport, according to NASA.: photo by NASA / Reuters, 12 April 2016

The reusable main-stage booster from the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket makes a successful landing on a platform in the Atlantic Ocean about 185 miles (300 kilometers) off the coast of Florida: photo by SpaceX / Reuters, 8 April 2016

A firefighter helps to fight a fire in the commune of Pétionville, Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The fire destroyed a hotel, a house, and several small shops.: photo by Hector Retamal / AFP, 4 April 2016