“Ave Maria” was published in 1964 when Frank O’Hara was in his thirties and an active member of the arts scene in New York. He was an unapologetic cinephile, a passion that appeared in numerous poems including this one and “To the Film Industry in Crisis” (1957), “In the Movies” (1954), and “A Step Away from Them” (1964). Although he is remembered today for his poetry, it is clear that cinema was his first love. He’s been widely quoted as saying, “And after all, only Whitman and Crane and Williams, of the American poets, are better than the movies.” “Ave Maria” is one of O’Hara’s most famous poems because it champions his love of, reliance on, and growth born out of going to the cinema. No other poet has become as widely associated with the bridge between cinema and poetry—and perhaps the bridge between all aspects of the arts communities—than Frank O’Hara.

Another reason the relationship between the poet and this work is particularly relevant is because Frank O’Hara’s was a gay man at a time when it was still illegal across almost all of the United States (Illinois became the first state to overturn anti-gay laws in 1962, but the next state wouldn’t follow until 1971; homosexuality remained illegal in the state of New York until 1980).