[John (J.D.) Smith]

"I shall call him 'Mini Me.'" John Ashbery

[Don Jones]

Here's Ashbery's rationale:

In his judge's citation, Ashbery compares Hosea's poetry to a notorious Marcel Duchamp masterpiece, and declares that Hosea "somehow subsumes derision and erotic energy and comes out on top," adding: "One feels plunged in a wave of happening that is about to crest."

Ashbery defames Duchamp and Hosea defames the prophet!

Added in:

Here's a taste.

Hopscotch Smudges

The day you left
Do not leave
I cried out why
Any unsolicited female
My heart froze numb
Advertising material
My mind blank as
On this property
It were baked Alaska
Newspapers and magazines only
Vanilla noggin rocking
No dogs allowed
You stuck kiss to my ear
Do not feed
As if caught in a conch
The sea will not make any more
Passionate whispers
Boring art
I locked those secrets by a slide
Security provided
Hung with ripped phone cords
Guardian solutions
Rippled abs
Long gone forever
We deliver
For you
To you
For you

[John (J.D.) Smith]

If the vanilla noggin's a-rockin', don't come a-knockin'. Or something.

Ashbery has always, followed his own project, though the corrupt boost from Auden with the Yale Younger Poets Prize didn't hurt, but imitation Ashbery is one of the great mysteries of our time.