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*John Ashbery. Three Poems. 1972. 118 pp.
The three "poems" are three prose essay poems with the titles "The New Spirit," "The System," and "The Recital." I always remembered that constrast between two types of happiness, the "frontal" and the "latent," in "The System." The prose is fluent, and absolutely clear, presenting no difficulty of comprehension. You read a while and then realize you are caught in a labyrinth: you have in fact understood nothing, despite the apparent clarity of every sentence.
This may be my favorite Ashbery work.
The third percent has included no duds so far.
This is indeed an extraordinary book. And you've put it very well: complete clarity combined with labyrinths of not understanding!
ResponderEliminarI wrote "clean washed sea" and "the flowers were" on the wall at a party at Stanford once. In glow in the dark ink!