They've been doing it to Shakespeare for centuries. They claim that Shakespeare didn't write Shakespeare. Leave aside for the moment that this sentence exemplifies what Wittgenstein called nonsense. Think instead of the authentic pleasure that amateurs get out of arguing the case for or against Essex or Marlowe or the Swan of Avon.
Now they're doing it to Frank O'Hara. The thesis has been advanced that Kenneth Koch wrote "A True Account of Talking to the Sun," forged it, and passed it off as Frank's. Why would someone make such a claim -- which, by the way, is totally inconsistent with the character of Kenneth Koch?
Could it be a bid for attention? An attempt to whip things up? An innocuous and perhaps enjoyable adventure in mental gymnastics?
Tony Towle, who knew O'Hara, has weighed in with his true account of the controversy-in-progress. -- DL
