This whole moment is the groin...

This whole moment is the groin
Of a borborygmic giant who even now
Is rolling over on us in his sleep.

The gray glaze of the past att...

The gray glaze of the past attacks all know-how....

Expecting rain, the profile of...

Expecting rain, the profile of a day
Wears its soul like a hat....

To the poet as a basement quil...

To the poet as a basement quilt, but perhaps
To some reader a latticework of regrets ...

The sun fades like the spreadi...

The sun fades like the spreading
Of a peacock's tail, as though twilight
Might be read as a warning to those desperate
For easy solutions.

The term ignorant is indeed pe...

The term ignorant is indeed perhaps an overstatement, implying as it does that something is known somewhere, whereas in reality we are not even sure of this: we in fact cannot aver with any degree of certainty that we are ignorant. Yet this is not so bad; we have at any rate kept our open-mindedness -- that, at least, we may be sure that we have -- and are not in any danger, or so it seems, of freezing into the pious attitudes of those true spiritual bigots whose faces are turned toward eternity and who therefore can s

In the increasingly convincing...

In the increasingly convincing darkness The words become palpable, like a fruit That is too beautiful to eat.

Therefore bivouac we On this ...

Therefore bivouac we On this great, blond highway, unimpeded by Veiled scruples, worn conundrums. Morning is Impermanent. Grab sex things, swing up Over the horizon like a boy On a fishing expedition.

And so we turn the page over. ...

And so we turn the page over. To think of starting. This is all there is.

What I like about music is its...

What I like about music is its ability to be convincing, to carry an argument through successfully to the finish, though the terms of the argument remain unknown quantities.

I think that in the process of...

I think that in the process of writing, all kinds of unexpected things happen that shift the poet away from his plan and that these accidents are really what we mean when we talk about poetry.

Part of the strength of Polloc...

Part of the strength of Pollock and Rothko's art, in fact, is this doubt as to whether art may be there at all.

Will occur as time grows more ...

Will occur as time grows more open about it.

The soul establishes itself. B...

The soul establishes itself. But how far can it swim out through the eyes And still return safely to its nest?

The ellipse is as aimless as t...

The ellipse is as aimless as that,
Stretching invisibly into the future so as to reappear
In our present. Its flexing is its account,
Return to the point of no return.

You stupefied me. We waxed,

You stupefied me. We waxed,
Carnivores, late and alight
In the beaded winter. All was ominous, luminous.

John Ashbery 03.03.2018 03:03:03 98 quotes

But always and sometimes quest...

But always and sometimes questioning the old modes
And the new wondering, the poem, growing up through the floor,
Standing tall in tubers, invading and smashing the ritual
Parlor, demands to be met on its own terms now,
Now that the preliminary negotiations are at last over.

Somewhere someone is traveling...

Somewhere someone is traveling furiously toward you,
At incredible speed, traveling day and night....

The soul is not a soul,
H...

The soul is not a soul,
Has no secret, is small, and it fits
Its hollow perfectly: its room, our moment of attention.

Most reckless things are beaut...

Most reckless things are beautiful in some way, and recklessness is what makes experimental art beautiful, just as religions are beautiful because of the strong possibilities that they are founded on nothing.