Turning from the blaze to the counterpanel //
I saw how we are all great in our shortcomings, yea //
greater because of them. There are letters in the alphabet //
we don't know yet, but when we've remembered them //
we'll know the luster of unsupported things. //
Our negativity will have caught up with us //
and we'll be better for it. Just //
keep turning on lights, wasting electricity, //
carousing with aardvarks, smashing the stemware. //
These apartments we live in are nicer //
than where we lived before, near the beginning. //
-- John Ashbery, "When I Saw the Invidious Flare"
This page was last modified on 2011 December 20.