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Four introductions to poetry readings given by birthday boy John Ashbery.
. . .. with John everything seems significant. "Mountain ash mindlessly dropping its berries" is one phrase in which he consciously puts himself in a line by punning on his name. The adverb makes quite a difference. When Ashbery says "ashtray" it means ashtray and maybe something else as well. -- DL
from the archive: posted by The Best American Poetry on April 07, 2018 at 05:08 PM
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Radio
I left it
on when I
left the house
for the pleasure
of coming back
ten hours later
to the greatness
of Teddy Wilson
"After You've Gone"
on the piano
in the corner
of the bedroom
as I enter
in the dark
from New and Selected Poems by David Lehman
Let's not forget that Professor Koch once
remarked that the difference between a prose
writer and a poet is that a prose writer is
interested in all the people who have used
an ashtray while a poet is interested in the
word ashtray itself. He also remarked that
it would be "very interesting" to have sex
with Queen Elizabeth which later was something
that William Buckley actually wrote about in
one of his degenerate novels.
Posted by: mitch sisskind | July 28, 2023 at 12:14 PM
A little like discussing the difference between the human circulatory system and the human alimentary system, either liquid or solid excreta.
Posted by: Kyril Alexander Calsoyas | July 29, 2023 at 05:29 PM
Ashtray yoshvay vaysekha ode y'Halleluhah selah.
Posted by: David Lehman | July 30, 2023 at 01:30 PM