Walter, Cage was an immense influence on Ashbery, though most of the latter's friends were other poets and painters. I like Ashbery at his most garrulous, poems like "Leaving Atocha Station" and "Daffy Duck in Hollywood." But he was notoriously reticent (though interviewed many times) about his own poetry. I don't think Ashbery knew Rothko very well personally, but his comments on the latter's work are revealing:
http://edwardbyrne.blogspot.com/2007...my-rothko.html