A Worldly Country New Poems Author:John Ashbery 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 ... more »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.« less