frank o'hara was at the center of the group before his death in 1966. because of his numerous friendships and his post as a curator at the museum of modern art, he provided connections between the poets and painters such as jane freilicher, fairfield porter, and larry rivers (who was o'hara's lover). there were many joint works and collaborations, particularly between poets such as o'hara, kenneth koch, john ashberry, and james schuyler: rivers inspired a play by koch, koch and ashbery together wrote the poem "a postcard to popeye", ashbery and schuyler wrote the novel "a nest of ninnies", and schuyler collaborated on an ode with o'hara, whose portrait was painted by rivers.