A Worldly Country : New Poems
by John Ashbery 2020-08-26 04:27:16
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Thrill of a Romance It''s different when you have hiccups. Everything is—so many glad hands competing for your attention, a scarf, a puff of soot, or just a blast of silence from a radio. What is it? That''s for you to learn to your dismay when... Read more

Thrill of a Romance

It''s different when you have hiccups.
Everything is—so many glad hands competing
for your attention, a scarf, a puff of soot,
or just a blast of silence from a radio.
What is it? That''s for you to learn
to your dismay when, at the end of a long queue
in the cafeteria, tray in hand, they tell you the gate closed down
after the Second World War. Syracuse was declared capital
of a nation in malaise, but the directorate
had other, hidden goals. To proclaim logic
a casualty of truth was one.

Everyone''s solitude (and resulting promiscuity)
perfumed the byways of villages we had thought civilized.
I saw you waiting for a streetcar and pressed forward.
Alas, you were only a child in armor. Now when ribald toasts
sail round a table too fair laid out, why the consequences
are only dust, disease and old age. Pleasant memories
are just that. So I channel whatever
into my contingency, a vein of mercury
that keeps breaking out, higher up, more on time
every time. Dirndls spotted with obsolete flowers,
worn in the city again, promote open discussion.

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  • ISBN
  • 8.98x6.3x0.28inches
  • 76
  • Ecco Press
  • February 1, 2008
  • English
  • 9780061173844
John Lawrence Ashbery (July 28, 1927 – Sept 3, 2017) was an American poet and art critic. Ashbery is considered the most influential poet of his time. Ashbery published more than 20 volumes of poetr...
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