A Blessing in Disguise Yes, they are alive and can have those colors, But I, in my soul, am alive … More
Category: John Ashbery
The Year of Living Deeply 7: Another chance meeting with Ashbery
I was in a waiting room, having cycled, a bit out of breath, a book on my knee, trying to … More
Mark Strand on reading poetry -a found poem
Sometimes poems aren’t literal representations of anything. Sometimes a poem just exists as something else in the universe that you … More
Kenneth Koch on the New York poets
Being together so much and talking so much and writing poems and showing them to each other so much … More
Guest blog post: In praise of Joan Mitchell, by Tamar Yoseloff
Joan Mitchell looks to be the only artist of her generation, man or woman, who produced a big, abstract, painterly … More
Steel and Air -a new film of a poem by John Ashbery
Directors Chris and Nick Libbey introduce their film of John Ashbery’s poem: In the heart of Minneapolis stands the Irene Hixon Whitney … More
A few days
The afternoon was drawing to a close when I knew I had hit the wall. On its own terms there … More
New Year letter
Dear Ant Looking forward to 2015 it’s tempting to think it will never reach the heights of 2014. Big mistake. Huge. … More
The blogs I read (4)
Locus Scolus: The New York School of Poets is a thing of wonder and beauty. Named after a 1914 French novel by Raymond … More
Why I miss Robert Rehder
It is odd to speak of missing someone you never met, but this is how I feel about the American … More
Lifesaving Poems: John Ashbery’s ‘Down by the Station Early in the Morning’
I was thinking recently about John Ashbery. As I say in my post about my poetry highlights of 2012 one of … More
When poetry stopped me breathing in 2012
I have just been asked by Abegail Morley to send her a list of my poetry books of 2012 for … More
Lifesaving Poems: James Tate’s ‘I am a Finn’
I Am a Finn I am standing in the post office, about to mail a package back to Minnesota, to … More