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,...

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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...

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Frank O’Hara: The Poet Everyone Wants to Claim

Frank O’Hara wasn’t just a poet—he was a sensation. Part of the New York School, his poetry felt like a caffeinated stroll through the city, filled with wit, spontaneity, and a deep affection for daily life. He wrote with the freedom of someone who wasn’t trying to please anyone, and his work often read like a fast-paced letter to a friend. That energy made him a legend. Even decades after his untimely death, O’Hara remains a touchstone for those in...

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The Father She Thought She Knew

The heart of this memoir doesn’t belong to Frank O’Hara alone—it belongs to the relationship between a father and daughter, one shaped by admiration, distance, and misunderstanding. Calhoun’s father was a well-known art critic, witty and charismatic in public, but often difficult and emotionally distant at home. Growing up in the shadow of someone so deeply immersed in the art world meant being constantly surrounded by brilliance—but not necessarily affection.As she begins to uncover a side of him she rarely...

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The Messy Truth Behind Artistic Lives

There’s a common myth about creative people—that their lives are charmed, their days filled with inspiration, passion, and brilliance. But this memoir chips away at that illusion, revealing a more complex reality. Both O’Hara and the father at the center of the story lived lives full of beauty and insight, but also of chaos, insecurity, and fragility.Frank O’Hara was a man of contradictions. He worked at the Museum of Modern Art, helped shape American postwar art, and hosted spontaneous, glamorous...

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Memory, Permission, and the Limits of Truth

Every biography is a little bit fiction. So, writing a biography—especially of someone long gone—is never just about gathering facts. It’s about interpretation, negotiation, and the ever-slippery nature of memory. This memoir highlights just how challenging it is to piece together a life when everyone remembers it differently and when the people guarding that legacy want to shape it their own way.Adding to this complexity is the unreliability of personal memory. Calhoun finds her sources contradicting themselves, offering differing portraits...

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The Story That Ends Up Being Your Own

As the pages turn and the search continues, the central narrative shifts in an unexpected but powerful direction. What began as a literary quest to finish her father’s biography of Frank O’Hara quietly transforms into something more intimate—a memoir not of someone else’s life, but of her own evolution through that pursuit.This transformation happens gradually. At first, the focus is on filling in the gaps of the unfinished project, honoring her father’s intellectual legacy while perhaps proving something to herself...

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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.