Discovering John Ashbery

Apr 3, 1952

“And only in the light of lost words/Can we imagine our rewards,” John Ashbery wrote in “The Picture of Little J.A.”

Ashbery was not yet 25 when he read at 92Y’s Poetry Center on April 3, 1952. The poems he read that night—and are featured in this recording (they include “Meditations of a Parrot,” “The Painter” and “The Picture of Little J.A. in a Prospect of Flowers”)—were collected in his first book, Some Trees, which was published four years later.

We thank The Aeroflex Foundation for its support of the Dave Nolan Poetry Series.

Categories: Literary Poetry Center Online

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