Last night, at The Art Foundation
bar, a man interrupted my conversation
(what is it with men thinking they are so important they can just interrupt conversations?)
with a way too trying-to-be charming
pickup line: are you an artist?
I wanted to stab him with a pen
especially because he kept prying at me
our conversation felt more like an interrogation
but it turns out we love the same
poet: John Ashbery. Watching
my as-of-yet-unnamed-friend
reach for English translations,
in a not so fluid manner, I realized
it was actually remarkable that Ashbery,
a poet difficult for native English speakers
can, on some fundamental level, translate
beyond the words themselves. Not to fluff
Ashbery's ego, or anything. I feel like I've
been talking about him a lot lately, but this
Ashbery connection was coincidental, or what you
will. Anyways, he told me his favorite Ashbery
poem was "An Additional Poem" from
The Tennis Court Oath. Emotionally released
from his relationship, this poem prompted
[insert name here] to break up with his girlfriend.
I love that poetry can change people, can
allow them to see what they previously could
not, in this case, providing my very human
friend, the bravery of independence.
An Additional Poem by John Ashbery
Where then shall hope and fear their objects find?
The harbor cold to the mating ships
And you have lost as you stand by the balcony
With the forest of the sea calm and gray beneath.
A strong impression torn from the descending light
But night is guilty. You knew the shadow
In the trunk was raving
But as you keep growing hungry you forget.
The distant box is open. A sound of grain
Poured over the floor in some eagerness -- we
Rise with the night let out of the box of wind.
---
// Congrats to WS Merwin on Poet Laureate, though the handsome mansome seemed to be almost inconvenienced by it, which I thought suited the position quite well actually. \\
<< Oh, and speaking of the New York Times, if you haven't read this five-part series yet, I highly suggest you do. >>
