[New-Poetry] Ashes, ashes, we all fall down

[TheOldMole]

:Logan, D, and god help me, even with the pretentious diction, I'd vote 
for B.

This is great, David. You should expand it into something.

David Graham wrote:
> As part of National Too Much Poetry Month, NewPo is pleased to offer 
> its first Ashbery quiz.
>
> Ready?
>
> Here's a poem from Mr. Ashbery's most recent book:
>
> *The Inchcape Rock*
>  
> Prop up the "meaning,"
> take the trash out, the dog for a walk,
> give the old balls a scratch, apologize for three things
> by Friday--oh quiet noumenon
> of my soul, this is it, right?
> You lost the key and the answer is inside
> somewhere, and where are you going to breathe?
> The box is shut that knew you
> and all your friends,
> voices that could have spoken in your behalf ...
>  
> Why, what did you want me to do with them?
> Half a document is sufficient to this
> weather, wild time, excrescence, more.
> Rumors sift across a bald apologia.
> The feet are here.
>  
> --John Ashbery. /A Worldly Countr/y.  HarperCollins, 2007.
> _______________________
>
> Which of the following descriptions best captures the above poem's 
> theme?  
>
> A) A poem must not mean but be.  
>
> B) The poet imagines himself dying, and then dead, enclosed in a 
> coffin from which his spirit has departed.
>
> C)  Life is a ravishing disappointment, most of the time, but oh well.
>
> D)  Getting old is a real bitch, but the supreme fiction never dies.
>
> E)  Even our closest friendships are riddled with rumors, missed 
> connections, and contradictory memories.
>
>
> Extra credit:
>
> One of the above descriptions was actually written by a prominent 
> critic.  Identify which one, and for extra-extra credit, name the 
> critic.  
> ========================================
> David Graham
> grahamd at ripon.edu <mailto:grahamd at ripon.edu>
>
> Home Page:
> http://web.mac.com/drjazz
>
> Poetry Library:
> http://web.mac.com/drjazz/iWeb/Site/DGPoLibrary.html
> ==========================================
>
>
>
>
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>
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>   

-- 
Tad Richards
http://www.opus40.org/tadrichards/
http://opusforty.blogspot.com/

The moral is this: in American verse,
The better you are, the pay is worse.
  --Corey Ford