- And so we turn the page over
- To think of starting. This is all there is.
JOHN ASHBERY, "Frontispiece"
- Death is a new office building filled with modern furniture,
- A wise thing, but which has no purpose for us.
JOHN ASHBERY, "A Last World"
- All things seem mention of themselves
- And the names which stem from them branch out to other referents.
- Hugely, spring exists again.
JOHN ASHBERY, "Grand Galop"
- Once a happy old man
- One can never change the core of things, and light burns you the harder for it.
JOHN ASHBERY, "A Last World"
- The mind
- Is so hospitable, taking in everything
- Like boarders, and you don’t see until
- It’s all over how little there was to learn
- Once the stench of knowledge has dissipated.
JOHN ASHBERY, "Houseboat Days"
What is the past, what is it all for? A mental sandwich?
- And the truth is cold, as a giant's knee
- Will seem cold.
JOHN ASHBERY, "A Last World"
- Much that is beautiful must be discarded
- So that we may resemble a taller
- Impression of ourselves.
JOHN ASHBERY, "Illustration"
There is the view that poetry should improve your life. I think people confuse it with the Salvation Army.
JOHN ASHBERY, International Herald Tribune, Oct. 2, 1989
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