John Ashbery read new poems, poems from Planisphere, and poems from his forthcoming translation of Arthur Rimbaud at The New School in Manhattan Monday night (set list below). The forum was moderated by David Lehman, who held a short Q&A with Ashbery after the reading. Ashbery first encountered Rimbaud’s work at age 15 or 16, he said. His new translation of Illuminations will be released by W.W. Norton on May 16.
Here are the poems that Ashbery read:
from Planisphere:
1. Circa
2. Default Mode
3. Episode
4. The Foreseeable Future
5. He Who Loves and Runs Away
6. In One Afternoon
7. Pernilla
8. They Knew What They Wanted
9. The Winemakers
new/recent poems:
1. Voice From the Fireplace
2. [indistinct] Commercial
3. Tango and Schottische
4. Three Weeks
5. Words To That Effect
6. Postlude and Prequel
from Illuminations
1. Sideshow (Ashbery: it could translate as “Parade”)
2. Cities (I)
3. Promontory
Three Percent