At that time all of us began to think with our bare hands and even with blood all over them, we knew vertical from horizontal, we never smeared anything except to find out how it lived. I have always found the idea that poetry should be uplifting .a depressing one. Unfortunately even lust, with its blatant objectification of the other, no longer seems quite acceptable. Of course, not all poetry makes human emotion the focal point of its content. Easily, nonchalantly, it locates us within the urban experience.
Dirt is pollution, the inevitable by-product of commerce.
Yet here there is no need to separate the two worlds. In fact, it would be impossible to do so. Dirt is also slang for gossip, dish, the juicy lowdown. Dirt, like talk, is cheap. This connotation of the word seems exceedingly appropriate in helping to characterize O'Hara's style and contribution to contemporary poetry.