“A Step Away from Them” by Frank O’Hara: A Critical Analysis

Introduction: “A Step Away from Them” by Frank O’Hara

“A Step Away from Them” by Frank O’Hara first appeared in Lunch Poems (1964), a collection published by City Lights Books that captures the immediacy of urban life through O’Hara’s distinctive “I do this, I do that” style. The poem’s main ideas revolve around the fleeting vibrancy of New York City, the coexistence of life and death, and the poet’s personal sense of presence within the urban landscape. O’Hara takes the reader through his lunch-hour walk, observing construction workers “with yellow helmets on” and chorus girls whose “skirts are flipping above heels” while weaving in cultural references to Federico Fellini, Giulietta Masina, and Pierre Reverdy. This mixture of the ordinary and the artistic contributes to its enduring popularity. The poem balances the liveliness of the city—“Neon in daylight is a great pleasure”—with moments of quiet mourning for lost friends like Bunny, John Latouche, and Jackson Pollock, suggesting that even amidst the bustle, absence and memory haunt the poet. Its conversational tone, cultural immediacy, and ability to transform everyday experiences into art have made it one of O’Hara’s most celebrated poems.

Text: “A Step Away from Them” by Frank O’Hara

It’s my lunch hour, so I go

for a walk among the hum-colored

cabs. First, down the sidewalk

where laborers feed their dirty

glistening torsos sandwiches

and Coca-Cola, with yellow helmets

on. They protect them from falling

bricks, I guess. Then onto the

avenue where skirts are flipping

above heels and blow up over

grates. The sun is hot, but the

cabs stir up the air. I look

at bargains in wristwatches. There

are cats playing in sawdust.

to Times Square, where the sign

blows smoke over my head, and higher

the waterfall pours lightly. A

Negro stands in a doorway with a

toothpick, languorously agitating.

A blonde chorus girl clicks: he

smiles and rubs his chin. Everything

suddenly honks: it is 12:40 of

a Thursday.

Neon in daylight is a

great pleasure, as Edwin Denby would

write, as are light bulbs in daylight.

I stop for a cheeseburger at JULIET’S

CORNER. Giulietta Masina, wife of

Federico Fellini, è bell’ attrice.

And chocolate malted. A lady in

foxes on such a day puts her poodle

in a cab.

There are several Puerto

Ricans on the avenue today, which

makes it beautiful and warm. First

Bunny died, then John Latouche,

then Jackson Pollock. But is the

earth as full as life was full, of them?

And one has eaten and one walks,

past the magazines with nudes

and the posters for BULLFIGHT and

the Manhattan Storage Warehouse,

which they’ll soon tear down. I

used to think they had the Armory

Show there.

A glass of papaya juice

and back to work. My heart is in my

pocket, it is Poems by Pierre Reverdy.

Annotations: “A Step Away from Them” by Frank O’Hara

Stanza / Lines	Summary in Simple English	Details & Meaning
Stanza 1 (Opening: “It’s my lunch hour, so I go… cats playing in sawdust.”)	The poet takes a walk during lunch, describing construction workers eating, women’s skirts blowing in the air, hot sun, taxis, shops, and cats.	O’Hara observes ordinary city life with humor and vivid imagery. Workers with “glistening torsos” show physical labor, skirts blowing reveal urban energy, and “cats playing in sawdust” show small unnoticed details. This sets a lively, bustling atmosphere.
Stanza 2 (Lines: “On to Times Square… it is 12:40 of a Thursday.”)	He continues walking into Times Square, noticing signs, a waterfall effect, a Black man with a toothpick, a chorus girl, and the honking of traffic at 12:40.	This section shows the diversity of New York. The “sign blows smoke” and “waterfall pours lightly” personify the city’s advertisements. The interactions of strangers (the man and the chorus girl) show fleeting human moments. The exact time (“12:40”) grounds the poem in real life, like a snapshot.
Stanza 3 (Lines: “Neon in daylight… puts her poodle in a cab.”)	He reflects that neon lights in daytime are fun, just as critic Edwin Denby once wrote. He eats a cheeseburger, drinks a chocolate malt, mentions actress Giulietta Masina, and notices a rich woman with a poodle.	The stanza mixes everyday food with high culture references (Denby, Fellini, Masina). This shows O’Hara’s style of blending “high art” with “low life.” The woman with fox fur and a poodle represents wealth and eccentric city characters.
Stanza 4 (Lines: “There are several Puerto Ricans… Armory Show there.”)	He notes Puerto Ricans on the street, adding warmth and color. He remembers the deaths of friends and artists (Bunny, John Latouche, Jackson Pollock). Then he passes magazines, posters, and an old building (Warehouse) he once thought was the site of the famous Armory Show.	The tone shifts to sadness and memory. The deaths of creative figures bring a contrast to the busy, lively city. The question “is the earth as full as life was full, of them?” shows grief. Everyday observations (posters, storage building) mix with art history (Armory Show).
Stanza 5 (Ending: “A glass of papaya juice… Poems by Pierre Reverdy.”)	He ends the walk with papaya juice and goes back to work, saying his heart is in his pocket in the form of a book of poems by Reverdy.	The ending ties daily routine with deep feeling. The “heart in my pocket” metaphor shows poetry as personal comfort and emotional life. It suggests that amidst city noise, art and poetry remain his true passion and identity.

Literary And Poetic Devices: “A Step Away from Them” by Frank O’Hara

🌟 Device	📝 Definition	📖 Example from Poem	🎨 Explanation
🌆 Imagery	Descriptive language appealing to senses	“dirty glistening torsos sandwiches and Coca-Cola”	Creates vivid picture of workers and city life
🚖 Symbolism	Using objects to stand for ideas	“cabs stir up the air”	Taxis symbolize constant movement and restlessness
🕰️ Temporal detail	Exact time reference	“it is 12:40 of a Thursday”	Anchors the poem in real, ordinary time
🎭 Allusion	Reference to another work/person	“Giulietta Masina, wife of Federico Fellini”	Links everyday lunch to film and culture
🔊 Onomatopoeia	Word imitating sound	“Everything suddenly honks”	Captures city noise directly
✨ Juxtaposition	Placing contrasts side by side	“cheeseburger” vs. “Giulietta Masina”	Contrasts mundane with artistic
🌈 Personification	Giving human traits to nonhuman things	“the sign blows smoke over my head”	Makes city objects feel alive
🖼️ Cataloguing	Listing items in sequence	“magazines with nudes and the posters for BULLFIGHT”	Mirrors the crowded variety of city scenes
💔 Elegiac tone	Mournful reflection	“First Bunny died, then John Latouche, then Jackson Pollock”	Brings death and memory into the lively city walk
💖 Metaphor	Direct comparison	“My heart is in my pocket, it is Poems by Pierre Reverdy”	Equates heart with poetry—his emotional essence

Themes: “A Step Away from Them” by Frank O’Hara

🌆 Urban Life and Modernity
In “A Step Away from Them” by Frank O’Hara, the poet captures the dynamic pulse of New York City, presenting the metropolis as a vibrant character in itself. The opening lines, “It’s my lunch hour, so I go / for a walk among the hum-colored cabs,” establish the immediacy of the city’s energy. O’Hara’s observations of construction workers with “yellow helmets on” and chorus girls whose “skirts are flipping above heels” portray a society constantly in motion. The neon lights, bustling sidewalks, and flashing advertisements represent modernity’s dazzling pace, where even the ordinary becomes extraordinary. Through this, O’Hara transforms his lunch-hour walk into a poetic celebration of urban life.

🌹 Life, Death, and Memory
In “A Step Away from Them” by Frank O’Hara, the vibrancy of city life is contrasted with meditations on mortality and personal loss. The poet suddenly shifts from observing Puerto Ricans on the avenue to recalling the deaths of his friends: “First Bunny died, then John Latouche, / then Jackson Pollock.” This juxtaposition highlights how grief intrudes upon the vitality of everyday existence. The haunting reflection, “But is the earth as full as life was full, of them?” conveys the emptiness left behind. By weaving mourning into the fabric of his city stroll, O’Hara suggests that memory and absence are inseparable from the experience of life, even amid New York’s constant energy.

🕰️ Ephemerality and the Passage of Time
In “A Step Away from Them” by Frank O’Hara, the fleeting nature of time is central, reflected both in the poem’s structure and its imagery. The poet grounds his reflections in specific temporal markers: “Everything suddenly honks: it is 12:40 of a Thursday.” This precision captures how quickly life slips away, measured in honks, glances, and steps. The title itself suggests movement away from permanence—each step distancing the poet from death and grief while also acknowledging life’s temporariness. Small details such as “cats playing in sawdust” or “a glass of papaya juice” underscore the ephemeral pleasures that fill passing moments. The poem ultimately reflects the transient rhythm of life, where time is both ordinary and profoundly significant.

🎭 Art, Culture, and Everyday Experience
In “A Step Away from Them” by Frank O’Hara, art and daily life merge seamlessly, showing the poet’s belief that culture is not separate from the ordinary. O’Hara alludes to cinema and literature—“Giulietta Masina, wife of Federico Fellini, è bell’ attrice” and “My heart is in my pocket, it is Poems by Pierre Reverdy”—while also noting ads for “BULLFIGHT” and memories of the “Armory Show.” These cultural markers intermingle with mundane acts like eating a cheeseburger or drinking papaya juice. By fusing high culture with the rhythms of a lunch break, O’Hara blurs the line between the aesthetic and the everyday. The poem thus celebrates a democratized view of art, where inspiration is drawn from life as it is lived.

Literary Theories and “A Step Away from Them” by Frank O’Hara

Literary Theory 🌐	Application to “A Step Away from Them” by Frank O’Hara
🌆 New Historicism	This approach situates the poem within the cultural and historical context of 1950s–60s New York City. O’Hara references construction workers “with yellow helmets on,” chorus girls with “skirts…flipping above heels,” and advertisements like “BULLFIGHT” and the “Armory Show.” These details reflect postwar urban modernity, consumer culture, and the blending of high and popular art.
🌹 Psychoanalytic Theory	A psychoanalytic reading highlights O’Hara’s confrontation with grief and mortality amid urban distractions. The sudden remembrance—“First Bunny died, then John Latouche, / then Jackson Pollock”—reveals an unconscious mourning surfacing during mundane activities. His final line, “My heart is in my pocket, it is Poems by Pierre Reverdy,” suggests displacement of loss into art, symbolizing repression and sublimation.
🕰️ Structuralism	Through structuralist analysis, the poem’s meaning emerges from binary oppositions: life/death, presence/absence, ordinary/high culture. O’Hara juxtaposes workers eating “sandwiches and Coca-Cola” with cultural icons like “Giulietta Masina, wife of Federico Fellini.” This structure creates tension between ephemerality and permanence, showing how meaning arises from contrasts within the text.
🎭 Reader-Response Theory	From this lens, the poem invites readers to participate in its flow of impressions and urban fragments. The conversational tone—“It’s my lunch hour, so I go”—draws readers into the immediacy of experience. The mix of pop culture, personal grief, and random observations lets each reader find their own entry point, whether through recognition of references, shared urban familiarity, or emotional resonance.

Critical Questions about “A Step Away from Them” by Frank O’Hara

❓ Question 1: How does the poem capture the rhythm and atmosphere of New York City?

“A Step Away from Them” by Frank O’Hara captures the pulse of New York through quick, fragmented images that mimic the city’s energy. The poet notices construction workers “feed their dirty glistening torsos sandwiches and Coca-Cola” while skirts flip “above heels and blow up over grates.” These swift observations give the sense of a crowded, noisy city, full of movement and life. The honking at “12:40 of a Thursday” adds precision, grounding the poem in real time. By weaving together details of cabs, shop windows, neon lights, and strangers, O’Hara reproduces the constant activity of urban streets. The poem’s casual, conversational tone itself feels like walking quickly through a city, pausing for brief glances before moving on.

🌆 Question 2: How does O’Hara mix high art and popular culture in the poem?

“A Step Away from Them” by Frank O’Hara deliberately blurs the line between art and everyday life. While he eats a cheeseburger and chocolate malt at JULIET’S CORNER, he casually references “Giulietta Masina, wife of Federico Fellini, è bell’ attrice.” Here, a mundane meal is linked to Italian cinema and European art culture. Similarly, he cites Edwin Denby, a modern dance critic, when describing neon and light bulbs. These allusions suggest that for O’Hara, art is not confined to galleries or theaters but woven into daily routines. By mixing the ordinary (fast food, advertisements, papaya juice) with cultural icons (Fellini, Masina, Denby), the poet democratizes art and shows that beauty and meaning can be found everywhere—even during a lunch break.

🕊️ Question 3: What role does death and memory play in contrast to the city’s liveliness?

“A Step Away from Them” by Frank O’Hara introduces a sudden, solemn note when he recalls the deaths of “Bunny,” “John Latouche,” and “Jackson Pollock.” Amid the bustling avenue and Puerto Ricans adding “beauty and warmth,” O’Hara pauses to question, “But is the earth as full as life was full, of them?” This moment contrasts sharply with the city’s vitality, reminding readers that beneath the constant forward motion of urban life lies personal grief and cultural loss. The juxtaposition of death with everyday images of magazines and posters emphasizes how memory and absence exist within the present. The title itself—“A Step Away from Them”—can be read as O’Hara’s acknowledgment that life is always one step removed from the departed, yet continues forward with relentless energy.

📚 Question 4: What does the ending reveal about O’Hara’s relationship to poetry and emotion?

“A Step Away from Them” by Frank O’Hara concludes with the image, “My heart is in my pocket, it is Poems by Pierre Reverdy.” This metaphor links his emotional core directly to poetry, suggesting that his sense of identity and intimacy resides in art. After moving through a city of strangers, food, fashion, noise, and memories of death, the poem closes with a quiet declaration that poetry is his constant companion. The choice of Reverdy, a French surrealist poet, highlights O’Hara’s cosmopolitan outlook and preference for modernist experimentation. While the city overwhelms with fleeting impressions, poetry becomes portable, personal, and grounding. The ending makes clear that while O’Hara participates in daily urban life, his true emotional anchor is found in literature.

Literary Works Similar to “A Step Away from Them” by Frank O’Hara

🌆 “The Day Lady Died” by Frank O’Hara
Similarity: Like “A Step Away from Them”, this poem mixes everyday city details with sudden grief, showing how personal loss interrupts ordinary urban life.
🚖 “In the Waiting Room” by Elizabeth Bishop
Similarity: Similar to O’Hara’s casual voice, Bishop captures ordinary moments and transforms them into reflections on identity and human connection.

🗽 “Howl” by Allen Ginsberg
Similarity: Both poems celebrate city life with raw immediacy—O’Hara through casual lunch-hour scenes, Ginsberg through an epic vision of urban chaos and vitality.
🍔 “To a Poor Old Woman” by William Carlos Williams
Similarity: Like O’Hara’s attention to workers, food, and ordinary details, Williams elevates a simple act (eating plums) into a lyrical, sensory celebration.
✨ “Steps” by Frank O’Hara
Similarity: Written in the same conversational style, it shares O’Hara’s spontaneous observations of New York City streets, blending humor, culture, and daily life.

Representative Quotations of “A Step Away from Them” by Frank O’Hara

🌆 Quotation	Context	Theoretical Perspective
“It’s my lunch hour, so I go / for a walk among the hum-colored cabs”	Sets the scene of everyday routine in New York; frames the poem in real time during O’Hara’s break.	Reader-Response Theory – draws the reader into immediacy and shared experience.
“where laborers feed their dirty glistening torsos sandwiches / and Coca-Cola, with yellow helmets on”	Observes construction workers as part of the city’s living energy.	Marxist Criticism – highlights class structures and the visibility of working bodies in urban capitalism.
“Then onto the avenue where skirts are flipping above heels / and blow up over grates.”	Captures women in motion, echoing cinematic images of city life.	New Historicism – reflects mid-century gender norms and cultural spectacles in public spaces.
“Everything suddenly honks: it is 12:40 of a Thursday.”	Marks precise time, blending noise, traffic, and urban rhythm.	Structuralism – emphasizes binary of order/chaos and the structuring of time.
“Neon in daylight is a great pleasure, as Edwin Denby would write”	References poet Edwin Denby; juxtaposes artificial and natural light.	Intertextuality (Poststructuralism) – meaning arises through dialogue with other texts and voices.
“Giulietta Masina, wife of Federico Fellini, è bell’ attrice.”	Alludes to Italian cinema, elevating daily life with artistic glamour.	Cultural Criticism – shows blending of popular culture and high art.
“First Bunny died, then John Latouche, then Jackson Pollock.”	Sudden shift to grief and memory, listing lost friends.	Psychoanalytic Criticism – unconscious mourning surfaces in casual observation.
“But is the earth as full as life was full, of them?”	Reflective, philosophical moment questioning absence and presence.	Existentialism – explores meaning and fullness of life in the face of death.
“past the magazines with nudes / and the posters for BULLFIGHT”	Notes consumer imagery in public space; contrasts desire and spectacle.	Marxist/Feminist Criticism – critiques commodification of bodies and cultural entertainment.
“My heart is in my pocket, it is Poems by Pierre Reverdy.”	Concludes with displacement of feeling into art; heart becomes literature.	Psychoanalytic/Reader-Response Theory – reveals sublimation of emotion and invites readers’ interpretive role.

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