The Ashbery Playlist

John Ashbery read these poems in this order at his reading at NYU on Thursday evening, 3 December:

"The Black Prince"
"Thrill of a Romance"
"Objection Sustained"
"So Long, Santa"
"Default Mode" [e.g., "They were living in America Stella by Starlight"]
"Episode"
"Floating Away" [begins with echo of Donne's "Valediction: Forbidding Mourning"]
"He Who Loves and Runs Away"  [begins "The bad news is the ship hasn't arrived; / the good news is it hasn't left yet"]
"Idea of Steve"
"Leave the Hand In" [ref. Milton, "Lycidas"]
"Pernilla"
"Planisphere" [ref. Marvell's "Definition of Love"]
"Sons of the Desert" [ref. "Antiques Road Show"]
"They Knew What They Wanted"
"The Tower of London"
"The Winemakers"