What is the fresh approach?
—John Ashbery
Rooms overfilled with both
high and low art are the
things of yesterday or,
by now, yesterday’s
yesterday. But what are
you asking me for? I don’t
know anything. Except the
despair of a chilly insomnolent
night, and how it calms. I
speak for me and no one else.
To take command and speak
for all is arrogance. I go both
ways these days, spend such
still hours investing in cartoons,
pricking myself in the wee hours
of high drama just to stay awake.
Portraying both artist and critic,
I’ll stop at each spot on any vector
just for a perspective. A snippet
of wisdom doesn’t care where it
lands, I suppose. By the time I’ve
learned which way is best, the
proper way to be, however, I am an
antique. This isn’t how I’ve always
been, of course. But here I am,
most gracious. And what a relief!
What I’m doing now is write.
That’s the real stuff.
It doesn’t work!
—John Ashbery
What I’m doing now is write.
That’s the real stuff.
It doesn’t work!
—John Ashbery
