Always embrace things

Season 2 of the brilliant Mad Men set in the Swinging Sixties began last week. It was only when watching it, that I realised how much I had missed it. No other TV show I have seen, seems to encapsulate such daring wit and brooding, mysterious characters. Some dissapprove of its seeming promotion of compulsive chain-smokers immortally glamourised, paired with frequent swigs of whiskey. However, such cynics are missing the point. The haze of cigarette smoke across our screens perfectly resembles the 'fragrant' air of the Nixon era.
What made the premiere episode of the second season so evocative for me, however, was the recital of the great writer Frank O'Hara's poem Mayakovksy, from the collection entitled 'Meditations in an Emergency.' I will let the poem, below, do the talking.

Mayakovsky

Now I am quietly waiting for
the catastrophe of my personality
to seem beautiful again,
and interesting, and modern.

The country is grey and
brown and white in trees,
snows and skies of laughter
always diminishing, less funny
not just darker, not just grey.

It may be the coldest day of
the year, what does he think of
that? I mean, what do I? And if I do,
perhaps I am myself again.