Poetry, You Win

Poetry Magazine

Then, recently, a friend who is, like, a for-real legit poet gave me a book of poems by John Ashbery, and I was like, damn. This is the real deal. I’m not ready for this. It had been a long time since I’d read any poems at all, and I considered carrying the book around and pretending I was reading it, like everyone did with Infinite Jest when it came out, so that I’d either absorb its contents through osmosis or I’d eventually be so bored that I’d actually crack it open and read it. But it was kinda too heavy to carry around so I just stuck it on a shelf and forgot about it. I finally dragged it out months later out of guilt and shame, and, holy shit! I didn’t know words could be this good!