“I would like to please the reader, and I think that surprise has to be an element of this, and that may necessitate a certain amount of teasing. To shock the reader is something else again. That has to be handled with great care if you're not going to alienate and hurt him, and I'm firmly against that, just as I disapprove of people who dress with that in mind - dye their hair blue and stick safety pins through their noses and so on.” PeopleIfsThinkingMindMayCareCertainHurtHairReaderAmountPleaseElementsDressesSafetyBlueSticksSurpriseNosesShockPinsTeaseSafety Pins Author:John Ashbery
“I don't want to read what is going to slide down easily; there has to be some crunch, a certain amount of resilience.” WantCertainAmountResilienceSlidesCrunch Author:John Ashbery
“If you need a certain vitality you can only supply it yourself, or there comes a point, anyway, when no one's actions but your own seem dramatically convincing and justifiable in the plot that the number of your days concocts.” IfsNeedsSeemsActionCertainNumbersPlotVitalityConvincing Book:Selected poems Source: Selected poems
“How many people came and stayed a certain time, Uttered light or dark speech that became part of you Like light behind windblown fog and sand Filtered and influenced by it, until no part Remains that is surely you.” PeopleLightCertainDarkBehindsSpeechRemainsSandFog Book:Selected poems Source: Selected poems
