otes from the Air S E L E C T E D LATE R P O E M S CARCANET

Transcription

1 JOHN ASHBERY otes from the Air S E L E C T E D LATE R P O E M S CARCANET

2 CONTENTS Acknowledgments from APRIL GALLEONS (1987) Vetiver 3 Riddle Me 5 A Mood of Quiet Beauty 7 Finnish Rhapsody 8 Alone in the Lumber Business 11 Vaucanson 13 Someone You Have Seen Before 1; Ostensibly 17 Becalmed on Strange Waters 19 The Big Cloud 20 Some Money 22 Wet Are the Boards 2 3 Offshore Breeze 25 The Ice Storm 26 April Galleons 30

3 from FLOW CHART (if91) Section V 35 from HOTEL LAUTREAMONT (1992) Light Turnouts 65 Autumn Telegram 66 Notes from the Air 67 Still Life with Stranger 69 Hotel Lautreamont 70 On the Empress's Mind 73 The Phantom Agents 74 From Estuaries, from Casinos 75 Autumn on the Thruway 78 The Little Black Dress 84 Avant de quitter ces lieux 85 In Another Time 87 Le mensonge de Nina Petrovna 8 8 Korean Soap Opera 90 A Driftwood Altar 93 The Youth's Magic Horn 96 Seasonal 98 Kamarinskaya 99 Elephant Visitors 101 Retablo 102 Quartet 104 [untitled] 107 Just Wednesday 108 In My Way / On My Way no No Good at Names 113 In Vain, Therefore 115 A Hole in Your Sock 116 How to Continue 117

4 from AND THE STARS WERE SHINING (1994) Token Resistance 121 The Mandrill on the Turnpike 122 About to Move 123 Ghost Riders of the Moon 125 The Love Scenes 126 Well, Yes, Actually 127 Myrtle 129 Mutt and Jeff 130 Coventry 132 And the Stars Were Shining 134 from CAN YOU HEAR, BIRD (199;) A Poem of Unrest 157 A Waking Dream 15 8 At First I Thought I Wouldn't Say Anything About It by an Earthquake 160 By Guess and by Gosh 164 Can You Hear, Bird 165 Cantilever 166 Chapter II, Book Dangerous Moonlight 169 Debit Night 171 Dull Mauve 173 My Philosophy of Life 174 No Longer Very Clear 176 Operators Are Standing By 177 Plain as Day 178 Sleepers Awake 180 The Faint of Heart 181 The Green Mummies 183 The Military Base 184

5 The Problem of Anxiety 185 Today's Academicians 186 from Tuesday Evening 187 Yes, Dr. Grenzmer. How May I Be of Assistance to 195 You? What! You Say the Patient Has Escaped? You Would Have Thought 198 from WAKE FULNESS (1998) Wakefulness 201 Baltimore 203 Cousin Sarah's Knitting 204 Last Night I Dreamed I Was in Bucharest 206 Added Poignancy 207 Laughing Gravy 209 From Such Commotion 210 Alive at Every Passage 212 The Burden of the Park 213 Dear Sir or Madam 216 Discordant Data 217 Outside My Window the Japanese Probably Based on a Dream 221 Proximity 222 Like America 223 Snow 224 The Dong with the Luminous Nose 226 Come On, Dear 228 Homecoming 230 from GIRLS ON THE RUN (1999) Sections I, II, III, VIII, IX, XXI 233 from YOUR NAME HERE (2000) This Room 249 If You Said You Would Come with Me 250

6 A Linnet 251 The Bobinski Brothers 252 Merrily We Live 25 3 Caravaggio and His Followers 25 5 Industrial Collage 257 The History of My Life 259 Memories of Imperialism 260 Heartache 262 Redeemed Area 264 They Don't Just Go Away, Either 266 Sonatine Melancolique 268 Stanzas before Time 270 A Suit 271 Crossroads in the Past 272 How Dangerous 273 Lemurs and Pharisees 274 The Underwriters 276 Vendanges 278 Has to Be Somewhere 280 Strange Cinema 282 Fade In 283 Pastilles for the Voyage 284 Your Name Here 28; from CHINESE WHISPERS (2002) A Nice Presentation 289 Disagreeable Glimpses 290 Theme Park Days 292 From the Diary of a Mole 293 Mordred 294 The Lightning Conductor 296 I Asked Mr. Dithers Whether It Was Time Yet He Said No to Wait 298 Chinese Whispers 299 In the Time of Pussy Willows 302 Little Sick Poem 304

7 Local Legend 305 Portrait with a Goat 306 As Umbrellas Follow Rain 307 Oh Evenings 313 Runway 314 Her Cardboard Lover 315 The Haves 316 Li ke Ai r, Almost 319 The Blessed Way Out 321 The Business of Falling Asleep (2) 322 Sir Gammer Vans 324 from WHERE SHALL I WANDER (200;) Ignorance of the Law Is No Excuse 329 Days of Reckoning 330 Coma Berenices 332 The New Higher 336 Interesting People of Newfoundland 337 Retro 339 Annuals and Perennials 341 Heavy Home 342 The Template 343 The Snow-Stained Petals Aren't Pretty Any More 344 Sonnet: More of Same 345 The Love Interest 346 Composition 347 Where Shall I Wander 348 Index of Titles and First Lines 353