I have to dissent here. Ashbery is as dishonest as they come, a poet who uses distracting veneers to mask his hollowness. While I agree that Oliver is more "honest' than Ashbery, I do not understand her following. I heard her read at Harvard and was baffled by the large number of fans who who went into ecstasy at what seemed like repetitive banalities to me. If you must read recent American free verse, it seems to me that Richard Hugo or Linda Pastan would be better objects of attention. Even better yet would be some of the foreign poets--Montale, for instance.
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