With John Ashbery’s passing on Sunday, at 90, The Library of America has moved up the publication date of their second volume of his poems, John Ashbery: Collected Poems 1991 – 2000. It’s filled to the brim with his unfettered language and his welcoming warmth.
John Ashbery’s “East February” was first published in the March 24, 2014 issue of The New Yorker and is available here for subscribers. “East February,” by John Ashbery, compelled my interest this dark March morning. After all, when an 87-year-old poet speaks, you want to listen, you want to understand. So here goes. The whole poem … Read more
This poem is available only for subscribers. Click here for the abstract. Famed, acclaimed, 86-year-old poet John Ashbery has a new poem in this week’s issue of The New Yorker: “Gravy for the Prisoners.” Ashbery doesn’t mess around: the reader knows from the strange title that there will be cross currents in the poem. Why would prisoners … Read more