By John Ashbery
What had you been thinking about
the face studiously bloodied
heaven blotted region
I go on loving you like water but
there is a terrible breath in the way all of this
You were not elected president, yet won the race
All the way through fog and drizzle
When you read it was sincere the coasts
stammered with unintentional villages the
horse strains fatigued I guess . . . the calls . . .
I worry
the water beetle head
why of course reflecting all
then you redid you were breathing
I thought going down to mail this
of the kettle you jabbered as easily in the yard
you come through but
are incomparable the lovely tent
mystery you don’t want surrounded the real
you dance
in the spring there was clouds
The mulatress approached in the hall—the
lettering easily visible along the edge of the Times
in a moment the bell would ring but there was time
for the carnation laughed here are a couple of “other”
to one in yon house
The doctor and Philip had come over the road
Turning in toward the corner of the wall his hat on
reading it carelessly as if to tell you your fears were justified
the blood shifted you know those walls
wind off the earth had made him shrink
undeniably an oboe now the young
were there there was candy
to decide the sharp edge of the garment
like a particular cry not intervening called the dog "he's coming! he's coming" with an emotion felt it sink into peace
there was no turning back but the end was in sight
he chose this moment to ask her in detail about her family and the others
The person. pleaded—"have more of these
not stripes on the tunic—or the porch chairs
will teach you about men—what it means"
to be one in a million pink stripe
and now could go away the three approached the doghouse
the reef. Your daughter's
dream of my son understand prejudice
darkness in the hole
the patient finished
They could all go home now the hole was dark
lilacs blowing across his face glad he brought you
--------
On Thursday I did some writing, had leftover Thai food for brunch which was still fabulous, then went out to buy Father's Day cards -- how come all the "Grandpa" cards are either hopelessly sappy, full of religious sentiment, out-and-out insulting, or "from small child"? (We usually have my kids make my parents cards, but their illustrations have increasingly become totally esoteric -- a passive-aggressive way of indicating they don't want to have to make cards -- so I figured I'd buy cards this year, especially since my dad's birthday is Friday so there are two celebrations within a couple of weeks.) I also stopped in two stores that carry Vera Bradley bags because the retired patterns are on sale, but even at 25% off, there was nothing I really needed. There wasn't much excitement until I came home and got ready to drive Adam to tennis, only to discover that I couldn't because I couldn't track him down anywhere -- I called three of his friends and finally pounded on two of their doors, concluding that he was probably in someone's basement where they couldn't hear the phone, which was exactly the case.
Our evening television consisted of the finale of FlashForward, then we left ABC on for the American Cinematheque tribute to Matt Damon because the teaser ads were very funny (Jennifer Garner saying that she was there to salute the love between her darling husband and her husband's darling husband). FlashForward was a bit of a letdown mostly because we were betting it would end on a cliffhanger that will never be resolved, which of course it did, just like Eastwick...I am done watching new shows on ABC, they've canceled all the ones I've liked and kept the ones I thought were too mediocre to stick with. I didn't think the FlashForward finale was all that well-written, either; I'll forgive the holes in the time-jumping and even the ludicrous FBI stuff, but Olivia leaving Charlie and Dylan alone in the kitchen to make out with Lloyd when she knows it's minutes from what Charlie saw and panicked about for weeks...come on!
As for the Damon tribute, I agree with Jimmy Kimmel, it's ridiculous to have a retrospective for someone who's still in his 30s, but I forgive them because it was really entertaining. I like Damon a lot, though I didn't always think he was such a great actor, which is particularly amusing because people were always telling me that Paul looks like Matt Damon and now they tell me Daniel looks like Matt Damon. I still don't always love his movies but I've been very happy with him politically and in terms of his humanitarian work -- Bill Clinton paid tribute to that -- and I have always loved that he and Ben Affleck don't care whether people say they're gay, whether it's on Jimmy Kimmel or in The Advocate -- they're the anti-Tom Cruise. There were plenty of good lines about that on the tribute; Garner called them the prototype for the great Hollywood bromance. And there were other funny moments (Don Cheadle: "Heck yes, I'll fete Matt Damon! I'll Boba Fett Matt Damon!" Charlize Theron: "I got [my Academy Award] in a real category and he got his for just typing up Affleck's thoughts!") When Matt finally took the stage, he called Ben "my hetero life mate" and told Jimmy, "I know you tried to do to me tonight exactly what I did to Sarah Silverman."
As I type this, the news is coming in that the House voted 234-194 to get rid of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy -- it's about time! John McCain and his filibuster can go to hell. I keep getting irritated with the Obama administration about many, many things -- don't get me started on the delays in dealing with the Gulf crisis -- but every time McCain or Palin opens his or her mouth, I am grateful anew that the election went down the way it did. I didn't have time to futz with photos so here is an origami project Adam did for math in which they had to create paper shapes. Apparently his English teacher -- whom Adam identifies as a fellow sci-fi nerd -- picked it up and announced that now they had a completed Death Star.
No comments:
Post a Comment