The poem "Why I'm Not a Painter" by Frank O'Hara is divided into three stanzas. Two of which are 13 lines long and one is three lines long. The poem has been structured so that the reader is taken back and forth between the second and third stanzas rather than progressing through them. The second stanza focuses on the process of creating his painting ''Sardines'' by Mike Goldberg. The third stanza focuses on the process of the speaker "Oranges" creating his poem. This structure helps O Hara demonstrate to the reader the similarities and differences between a poet and a painter and between painting and poetry. Both the painter and the poet start from the concept of object. The painter has sardines as his object and the poet has oranges as his object. However, the way they create the final product is very different. The painting is born around a word while the starting point of the poem is an idea. The painter had to dismantle the word until it became ''Letters only'' (15/16) the poet writes for days but does not mention the word orange. Includes words only and does not include its own lines. It is essential that you put all your ideas on paper before focusing on the structure of the poem. The painter is forced to remove objects from his painting ''It was too much'' (16) the painter needs to put all his ideas on the canvas and then edit it, so to speak. He must become selective about what he includes in his final product and make sure that everything in the painting fits into the overall message he wants his painting to convey. The poet manages to write a poem about the orange only without talking directly about the orange. It needs to show the reader what orange is instead of telling them what... middle of paper...... bleak. ''Of how terrible orange and life'' (23/24) the speaker is torn between expressing his personal feelings and views in his poetry and adhering to the rule that poetry does not it should contain the writer's personal experiences. O Hara creates this contrast between a positive and a negative mood. In this way the reader can see the disadvantages and rewards of being a poet or a painter. There is no rhyme scheme in this poem. It's free-flowing. This adds a conversational tone to the poem and makes it informal, more like a conversation you would have with a friend. The conclusion of the poem connects directly to the beginning of the poem. The poem begins by talking about how the speaker is a poet but would rather be a painter. The end of the poem compares his finished poem to Mike's painting.