I adore that Monet quote, John, and it has gone straight into my journal. I like it more even than the opening of Robert Hass’s Praise, which I have long remembered and admired:
We asked the captain what course
of action he proposed to take toward
a beast so large, terrifying, and
unpredictable. He hesitated to
answer, and then said judiciously:
“I think I shall praise it.”
I’ve tried to read Ashbery a couple of times and have failed; I could not get my hook into anything. This no doubt says more about me than about Ashbery. He seems to want to make a virtue out of the necessity of facing an incomprehensible world, unlike e.g., Frost, who strove for those ‘momentary stays’. I shall no doubt try again someday.
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