Just Walking Around
What name do I have for you?
Certainly there is not name for you
In the sense that the stars have names
That somehow fit them. Just walking around,
An object of curiosity to some,
But you are too preoccupied
By the secret smudge in the back of your soul
To say much and wander around,
Smiling to yourself and others.
It gets to be kind of lonely
But at the same time off-putting.
Counterproductive, as you realize once again
That the longest way is the most efficient way,
The one that looped among islands, and
You always seemed to be traveling in a circle.
And now that the end is near
The segments of the trip swing open like an orange.
There is light in there and mystery and food.
Come see it.
Come not for me but it.
But if I am still there, grant that we may see each other
John Ashbery
Born: 28 July 1927, New York, USA
Nationality: American
Died: 3 September 2017, New York, USA
Ashbery was an art critic and poet. He is the most influential American poet of his time. He published over twenty volumes of poetry, winning almost every major American award for poetry including the Pulitzer Prize in 1978 for his collection “Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror.” Ashbery is renowned for his postmodern complexity and opacity and his work still proves to be controversial
Jezzie G 