Monday, February 21, 2011

And you are, some kind of friend of mine



Jesse Dobson


          . .

          But it was not easy to tell in what direction
          the permanence tended, whether it was
          Easy decline, like swallows after the rough
          Business of the long day, or eternal suspension
          Over emptiness, dangerous perhaps, in any case
          Not the peaceful cawing of which so much had been
          Made. I can tell you all
          About freedom that has turned into a painting;
          The other is more difficult, though prompt - in fact
          A little too prompt: therein lies the difficulty.

          .



John Ashbery
Fragment
The Double Dream of Spring, 1970
  John Ashbery: Collected Poems, 1956-1987
Mark Ford, editor
The Library of America, 2008©




2 comments:

  1. The picture holds promise of being developed in many directions at once. Fundamentally I like it for its affinity for the poem, so one couldn't dispense with that. There is no spontaneous obvious connection with Dobson except in our heretofore unintroduced relationship. There is also the poem's and the picture's cheekier suggestion of Miles Archer's brief interview with Brigid O'Shaughnessy above the Stockton tunnel in "Maltese Falcon," but I don't think one can go all 3 ways in one posting?

    Thank you for the prognosis!

    :)

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