John Ashbery

There is the view that poetry should improve your life. I think people confuse it with the Salvation Army.

There is the view that poetry should improve your life. I think people confuse it with the Salvation Army.

The poem is sad because it wants to be yours, and cannot be.

The poem is sad because it wants to be yours, and cannot be.

I write with experiences in mind, but I don't write about them, I write out of them.

I write with experiences in mind, but I don't write about them, I write out of them.

A perfect example of the new republic's urge to drape itself with the togas of classical respectability.

A perfect example of the new republic's urge to drape itself with the togas of classical respectability.

I don't want to read what is going to slide down easily; there has to be some crunch, a certain read more

I don't want to read what is going to slide down easily; there has to be some crunch, a certain amount of resilience.