John Ashbery

 

Joan Mitchell, John Ashbery

INTRODUCTION

To be a writer and write things 
You must have experiences you can write about. 
Just living won’t do. I have a theory 
About masterpieces, how to make them 
At very little expense, and they’re every 
Bit as good as the others. You can 
Use the same materials of the dream, at last. 

It’s a kind of game with no losers and only one 
Winner—you. First, pain gets 
Flashed back through the story and the story 
Comes out backwards and woof-side up. This is 
No one’s story! At least they think that 
For a time and the story is architecture 
Now, and then history of a diversified kind. 
A vacant episode during which the bricks got 
Repointed and browner. And it ends up 
Nobody’s, there is nothing for any of us 
Except that fretful vacillating around the central 
Question that brings us closer, 
For better and worse, for all this time.