ashbery-reading

January 16, 2025

I imagine that before I had read any modern poetry I had the same inhibition about reading poetry that most people have all the time. They say, ‘I don’t know how to appreciate this, it’s something that I don’t know anything about.’ There is the feeling that you have to take some kind of course before you can understand a poem which I think prevents people from reading poetry. They think that you cannot simply open a book of poems, start reading and instantly enjoy it. I discovered later on that wasn’t true.

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Thought:

“My task is to carry secret burdens for the world. People watch curiously. Yesterday morning at sunrise for example, you could have seen me on the breakwall carrying gauze. I also carry untimely ideas and sins in general or any faulty action that has been lowered together with you into this hour. Trust me. The trotting animal can restore red hearts to red.”

Anne Carson | “Short Talk on My Task”

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