FRANK O'HARA: SELECTED POEMS, edited by MARK FORD, has just been published. It's always a joy when O'Hara is published. Gore Vidal once said that it's easy to get famous in America--this may not be as true today as it was when Gore made the comment, and certainly not for the poets--but Gore also noted that it's even harder to stay famous in America. Frank O'Hara's reputation has proved to be enduring. His work is now anchored in the American pantheon. His voice is always fresh and original--a strong postwar presence in a tradition inspired by French surrealism, American vernacular, pop culture and gay male camp. Others worked at it too, but O'Hara gets the brass ring

FRANK O'HARA: SELECTED POEMS is a hardcover published by Knopf, $30.00

Anyway, Brainard's riffs on Nancy are whimsical and, most of them, amusing, even the pornographic ones--though the designation "pornographic" may not be appropriate when referring to the depictions of a cartoon character; perhaps instead Nancy is exploring aspects of her sexuality. Brainard's take on the Nancy brand has the feel of an ironic comment on a national icon, sort of like what Bill Griffith does with his Zippy strip, if in fact, Nancy and Sluggo weren't, in their original incarnation, already some sort of ironic comment. These things can be hard to classify.

This book includes commentary by ANN LAUTERBACH and RON PADGETT.

THE NANCY BOOK is a hardcover published by Siglio Press, $39.50

We see women at an airplane manufacturing plant in California. Some WAVES instruct naval officers in their official responsibilities, some undergo rigorous physical training. There are pictures of the lighter side--sharing coffee and letters with friends, outdoor recreations and the dances.

MAKING WAVES is an oversized hardcover from Abrams. All the photos are black and white, $35.00

The theme is Cavafy, as an older gentleman, in pursuit of attractive younger men. Michals creates a photo narrative, occasionally his style,  and gives us a representation of Cavafy in a manner that would inspire his poetry. It is a noble effort and engaging. The photography throughout is black and white.

THE ADVENTURES OF CONSTANTINE CAVAFY is a hardcover from Twin Palms, $60.00

Blake is famous as being the most famous black man in the gay adult erotic video business. He's seen it all. Even while growing up in the Deep South, he was bisexual. His father was absent, his brother wound up in the criminal justice system, and his mother had to bear so many troubles.

His early experiences in the adult film industry were marked by the facts of drug use, racism, self-destructive behaviors and other speed bumps to making his career.

Blake went from preacher to porn star and back to the ministry. His account is a personal and fresh account of what it is like to be in the adult film industry. It turned out to be a rough ride for Blake, but an exciting one.

MY LIFE IN PORN is a trade paperback from Running Press, $14.95

Tom Mason has long been a teacher at the Grover Cleveland High School in Chicago. He has gotten to hate the endless sequence of faculty meetings--they always wind up scheduling another meeting! As bad as they can be, they have never been fatal.

But during one meeting, Tom sneaks out for a short break only to find the room empty when he returns. He thinks nothing of this, and heads for the stockroom. He first encounters a couple in a secret tryst and then, after turning on the light, he discovers the body of one of his colleagues--the one who had stormed out of the faculty meeting just minutes earlier. Tom, having himself left the meeting at about the same time, finds himself fingered as the "prime suspect." He decides it's going to be up to him, along with his husband, Scott Carpenter, a former professional baseball player, to nail the actual perp.

SCHOOLED IN MURDER is a hardcover from St. Martin's Minotaur, $25.95

While some embrace their Catholic heritage and while others reject it--and many struggle with it--a Catholic upbringing can shape who people become, their imaginations, and aspects of their sexuality.

The various contributors to this book explore in detail the Catholic experiences of GLBTQI individuals from a variety of diverse cultural perspectives within the Catholic Church. This iconoclastic book reveals how others have overcome, adjusted to, moved on from, or continued to practice Roman Catholicism as fully integrated GLBTQI persons.

QUEER AND CATHOLIC is a trade paperback from Routledge, $39.95

His name was Kirk LeMoyne Billings; his social position was somewhat more modest than that of the Kennedys. Jack Kennedy and Lem met when both were at Choate--Lem a year older. Lem fell in love with Kennedy at Choate and stayed in love with him for the rest of JFK's  life. Kennedy knew of Lem's affection and always held it dear. When JFK was in the White House, Lem had his own room. After JFK's murder, Billings got involved with the family of Robert and Ethel Kennedy. Billings left his estate to one of RFK's sons. The Kennedys seemed to have a large and metropolitan family, and Lem was a beloved member.

DAVID PITTS, in his book JACK AND LEM: JOHN F. KENNEDY AND LEM BILLINGS: THE UNTOLD STORY OF AN EXTRAORDINARY FRIENDSHIP, shares his research from the hundreds of letters of the JFK Library, as well as the background he got from interviews with Ben Bradlee, Gore Vidal, Ted Sorensen,  Kennedy family members and other friends. He quotes Eunice Kennedy Shriver: "It's hard to describe it as just friendship; it was a complete liberation of the spirit...President Kennedy was a completely man when he was with Lem."

JACK AND LEM is new in paperback, from Da Capo, $17.00

That book was a big piece of business. The current volume, at 458 pages, is somewhat slimmer than its antecedent. Parini has done a good job of  assembling some of Gore's best literary writing and his political essays. Some are homage, for example his essay on Dawn Powell, which really launched her posthumous career, and some have their edges etched in acid--the Teddy Roosevelt meditation.

The charming thing about Vidal is that he has the many talents, a rare thing for a writer--he can write the terrific novels, his essays are among the best of American writers in the 20th Century, the screenplays, the bon mots, the television plays and the television appearances. Johhny Carson would often host Vidal on the TONIGHT SHOW, usually as his last guest, meaning quarter to one, AM, the punishment for the writer, and I think this was 1968, and Ronnie RayGun was running, for the first of four times, to be Chief Exec. Carson asked Gore if he thought Ronni RayGun dyed his hair. Gore had that twinkle--it may have been a set-up joke--and Vidal told Carson: "No, I don't think he dyes his hair. He's just prematurely orange." It played better in the 60's and in LA, but there you are.

THE SELECTED ESSAYS OF GORE VIDAL is published in hardcover by Doubleday, $27.50

BOYS IN HEAT is a trade paperback from Cleis Press, $14.95