A thought regarding Ashbery’s admirers, which is probably very unfair (but possibly a half-truth): there are two kinds of poetry-lovers: those who want to take a ride in the mind of a poet who will take them to places they wouldn’t otherwise have gotten to, and those who want to get into the mind of a poet that they can take control of—because they can then drive it to places that are safe because they’ve already been to them.  In other words, lovers of poems with destinations like those of Frost, and lovers of anywhere-going poems like (most of) those of Ashbery.

Diary Entry for Friday, 25 November 2011, 1 P.M.: I got another entry posted (I wrote it yesterday but it still counts for today!), and did another exhibition hand-out, which was fun to do.  I needed a nap of about two hours, maybe more, to get the zip to do it, though.  I feel okay now, but haven’t yet started on my book.  I’ve posted to the Internet on the authorship controversy and the Dove anthology, read some more of the Clancy novel I’m reading, and continued the game of Civilization I’m playing where my Greeks are now at war with the Arabs–but America and the Maya are on our side, so we should win.

5 P.M., Mine quest continues.  I did some good clarification on my book, but the going has been painfully slow.  I have a headache.  I’m resisting taking pain pills of any kind.  I keep thinking I’ve gotten everything straight, then at once running into a problem.

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Electric Guitars

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 26th, 2011 at 12:00 AM and is filed under John Ashbery, Miscellaneous Literary Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

A thought regarding Ashbery’s admirers, which is probably very unfair (but possibly a half-truth): there are two kinds of poetry-lovers: those who want to take a ride in the mind of a poet who will take them to places they wouldn’t otherwise have gotten to, and those who want to get into the mind of a poet that they can take control of—because they can then drive it to places that are safe because they’ve already been to them.  In other words, lovers of poems with destinations like those of Frost, and lovers of anywhere-going poems like (most of) those of Ashbery.

Diary Entry for Friday, 25 November 2011, 1 P.M.: I got another entry posted (I wrote it yesterday but it still counts for today!), and did another exhibition hand-out, which was fun to do.  I needed a nap of about two hours, maybe more, to get the zip to do it, though.  I feel okay now, but haven’t yet started on my book.  I’ve posted to the Internet on the authorship controversy and the Dove anthology, read some more of the Clancy novel I’m reading, and continued the game of Civilization I’m playing where my Greeks are now at war with the Arabs–but America and the Maya are on our side, so we should win.

5 P.M., Mine quest continues.  I did some good clarification on my book, but the going has been painfully slow.  I have a headache.  I’m resisting taking pain pills of any kind.  I keep thinking I’ve gotten everything straight, then at once running into a problem.

.

Electric Guitars