"The Day Lady Died" by: Frank o'Hara

This poem follows a man running errand throughout New York on a Friday , "3 days after Bastille day".
o'Hara has a train to catch later to attend a dinner with people he doesn't know so in the meanwhile he is getting his shoes shined, go to the bank, buy liquor and while heading back to 6th avenue, he passes by a newspaper and it has "her" face on it. The lady whom this poem is dedicated to the one whom died. The only thing I thought then when reading this was it must be someone famous, why else would such a big deal be made about her death? Normally civilian deaths don't end up one the front page of a newspaper and for the author to see it at a glance while strolling that is the only logical place for it to be. Only one conclusion was made here, it must be someone he admires very much for went to all the trouble to further document her death in a poem and at the end he puts " I am sweating a lot by now and thinking of leaning on the john door in the 5 SPOT while she whispered a song along the keyboard to Mal Waldron and everyone and I stopped breathing"

. Documenting his plain day must have signified her importance. How while he was running trivial errands a great lady died, it then became a day of sorrow for him. This lady was none other than the legendary  jazz musician Billie Holiday also known as "Lady Day" hence the title, The [Day Lady] died.
After giving some background on this poem I felt this held a great relatable topic to today's society. Lately we have watched many a great star, actors and musicians alike from Heath Ledger, to Michael Jackson die. I wonder why is it we mourn myself included for these stars as we do? It isn't as if we knew them personally  but when hearing of Heath Ledger, an actor i grew up with and held quite a crush it was a horrible thing to hear. I mourned just as though it was a close friend that had died. An entire nation mourned the day Michael Jackson died, it was on the news for months after and everywhere you looked there was a tribute to him. The king of pop died and it became one of our biggest losses in the entertainment industry, much as the death of Billie Holiday. I feel it's because the entertainment industry impacts our lives more then we think. We feel as if we know these people and look up to them. Their songs or movies bring us tears, laughter, fears, etc ... why wouldn't the author not be able to breathe? Losing Billie holiday at the time must have been equivalent to losing Michael Jackson why else would he dedicate a poem representing this day I feel it is his way of mourning.