Literary interlude, with illustration

You tell me I missed the most interesting part

But I think I found the most interesting part:

An unheralded departure by extinguished torchlight

Whose decorative patina

Is everything to the group—wind, fire, breathing, snores.

 

I was not there I was aware of Yogi Bear

There where I found a most interesting port

Crying wares to millenial crossings of voyagers

But this space is a checkerboard,

Whether it be land, sea or art

Trapped in the principle of the great beyond

Lacking only the expertise to

"Make a statement."

—From "Statuary," John Ashbery, As We Know, Viking, 1979, reprinted in Collected Poems 1956-1987, Library of America, 2008

Comments

[rwk]

Exactly. Perfect. Thanks.

[bill]

That poem's not any good because he rhymes "the most interesting part" with "the most interesting part." Shit, *I* could do *that*!

[Oliver_C]

'Cats & Dogs 2' makes jokes about waterboarding; 'Yogi Bear', watersports (and I *don't* mean marine pursuits). If this is "family-friendly entertainment", never have I been gladder to be single and childless.

[John M]

They ran this over black at the end of Yogi 3D, with Ashbery solemnly narrating. As a tonal shift, it was awkward.