OUT TO LUNCH

We all know lunch hour isn’t actually for eating lunch; it’s for running to the bank, going shopping, or throwing back a few midday business shots. In the case of Frank O’Hara, it was for poetry, and his might have been the best use of those precious 60 minutes in the whole dreary history of the corporate custom. Tonight, The Poetry Project closes its season with a 50th anniversary reading of Lunch Poems, O’Hara’s cult-y, occasionally smutty, and more often than not beautiful little posthumous tome that occupies the 19th spot in Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s beloved “Pocket Poets” series. In just the type of large group reading that O’Hara himself loved, more than 30 contemporary poets gather to recite the entire book. You can pick up a new commemorative edition of the work by San Franciso’s iconic City Lights bookstore.

Wed., June 11, 8 p.m., 2014