Poetry New York

                Marcella Durand opened up this performance at the Brooklyn Public Library. Durand was not a great speaker, but her words made up for it. Her brand of poetry is similar to that of Ashbery. She described everything at length. About half way through the performance she started reading her poetry about the planets in our solar system. This collection was very attractive because of the powerful descriptions used in it. Her poetry sounds like it was written out of lists, creating images, but scarcely moving.

                After Durand, John Ashbery waddled on to stage. At first I was not sure if I would enjoy watching him read, but my illusions were quickly dispelled. The way he read his poetry made his writings feel meaningful. If you’ve read him you should know what I mean. His reading felt like listening to a grandparent tell a story you can’t necessarily relate to. At times it all feels absurd, but at other times beautiful images are conjured and powerful feelings are evoked out of a hard to grasp story.

                In the poem “Chapter II Book 35” Ashbery spoke about a person I can’t help but feel was him talking to a younger version of himself. His ‘uncle’ tells him stories about Timbuktu and how Mark Twain wasn’t a humorist. This is all affirming the absurdity in his writings. In another poem, Sons of the Desert, Ashbery shamelessly takes lines from Antiques Roadshow. These exercises in absurdity are enough to make me smile and help me deconstruct what is expected of language. I couldn’t ask for more.