John Ashbery Poems (9 Poems)
Into the Dusk-Charged Air (John Ashbery Poem)
Far from the Rappahannock, the silent Danube moves along toward the sea. The brown and green Nile rolls slowly Like the Niagara’s welling descent. Tractors stood on the green banks of the Loire Near where it joined the Cher. The … Continue reading
Just Walking Around (John Ashbery Poem)
What name do I have for you? Certainly there is not name for you In the sense that the stars have names That somehow fit them. Just walking around, An object of curiosity to some, But you are too preoccupied … Continue reading
My Philosophy of Life (John Ashbery Poem)
Just when I thought there wasn’t room enough for another thought in my head, I had this great idea– call it a philosophy of life, if you will.Briefly, it involved living the way philosophers live, according to a set of … Continue reading
Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror (John Ashbery Poem)
As Parmigianino did it, the right hand Bigger than the head, thrust at the viewer And swerving easily away, as though to protect What it advertises. A few leaded panes, old beams, Fur, pleated muslin, a coral ring run together … Continue reading
Syringa (John Ashbery Poem)
Orpheus liked the glad personal quality Of the things beneath the sky. Of course, Eurydice was a part Of this. Then one day, everything changed. He rends Rocks into fissures with lament. Gullies, hummocks Can’t withstand it. The sky shudders … Continue reading
Daffy Duck In Hollywood (John Ashbery Poem)
Something strange is creeping across me. La Celestina has only to warble the first few bars Of “I Thought about You” or something mellow from Amadigi di Gaula for everything–a mint-condition can Of Rumford’s Baking Powder, a celluloid earring, Speedy … Continue reading
Farm Implements and Rutabagas in a Landscape (John Ashbery Poem)
The first of the undecoded messages read: “Popeye sits in thunder, Unthought of. From that shoebox of an apartment, From livid curtain’s hue, a tangram emerges: a country.” Meanwhile the Sea Hag was relaxing on a green couch: “How pleasant … Continue reading
For John Clare (John Ashbery Poem)
Kind of empty in the way it sees everything, the earth gets to its feet andsalutes the sky. More of a success at it this time than most others it is. The feeling that the sky might be in the … Continue reading
Glazunoviana (John Ashbery Poem)
The man with the red hat And the polar bear, is he here too? The window giving on shade, Is that here too? And all the little helps, My initials in the sky, The hay of an arctic summer night? … Continue reading
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