Ashbery - The tennis court oath: poems

THE TENNIS COURT OATHWesleyan University Press Middletown, CT 06459 Copyright 1957, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962 by John Ashbery All rights reserved Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 6210569 ISBN 0819510130 First printing, 1962 Printed in the United States of America 10 Some of these poems have previously appeared in Big Table, The Floating Bear, The Hasty Papers, Locus Solus, Partisan Review, Poetry Magazine, and Yugen; and in the authors earlier books, Turandot and Other Poems and The Poems. to Pierre Martory

THE TENNIS COURT OATH What had you been thinking about the face studiously bloodied heaven blotted region I go on loving you like water but there is a terrible breath in the way all of this You were not elected president, yet won the race All the way through fog and drizzle When you read it was sincere the coasts stammered with unintentional villages the horse strains fatigued I guess... the calls... I worry the water beetle head why of course reflecting all then you redid you were breathing I thought going down to mail this of the kettle you jabbered as easily in the yard you come through but are incomparable the lovely tent mystery you dont want surrounded the real you dance in the spring there was clouds The mulatress approached in the hallthe lettering easily visible along the edge of the Times in a moment the bell would ring but there was time for the carnation laughed here are a couple of other to one in yon house The doctor and Philip had come over the road Turning in toward the corner of the wall his hat on reading it carelessly as if to tell you your fears were justified the blood shifted you know those walls wind off the earth had made him shrink undeniably an oboe now the young were there there was candy to decide the sharp edge of the garment like a particular cry not intervening called the dog hes coming! hes coming with an emotion felt it sink into peace there was no turning back but the end was in sight he chose this moment to ask her in detail about her family and the others The person. pleadedhave more of these not stripes on the tunicor the porch chairs will teach you about menwhat it means to be one in a million pink stripe and now could go away the three approached the doghouse the reef. Your daughters dream of my son understand prejudice darkness in the hole the patient finished They could all go home now the hole was dark lilacs blowing across his face glad he brought you They dream only of America To be lost among the thirteen million pillars of grass: This honey is delicious Though it burns the throat. And hiding from darkness in barns They can be grownups now And the murderers ash tray is more easily The lake a lilac cube.

He holds a key in his right hand. Please, he asked willingly. He is thirty years old. That was before We could drive hundreds of miles At night through dandelions. When his headache grew worse we Stopped at a wire filling station. Now he cared only about signs.

Was the cigar a sign? And what about the key? He went slowly into the bedroom. I would not have broken my leg if I had not fallen Against the living room table. What is it to be back Beside the bed? There is nothing to do For our liberation, except wait in the horror of it. And I am lost without you.

It is such a beautiful day I had to write you a letter From the tower, and to show Im not mad: I only slipped on the cake of soap of the air And drowned in the bathtub of the world. You were too good to cry much over me.

And now I let you go. Signed, The Dwarf. I passed by late in the afternoon And the smile still played about her lips As it has for centuries. She always knows How to be utterly delightful. Oh my daughter, My sweetheart, daughter of my late employer, princess, May you not be long on the way!

Piling upward the fact the stars In America the office hid archives in his stall... Enormous stars on them The cold anarchist standing in his hat.

Arm along the rail We were parked Millions of us The accident was terrible. The way the door swept out The stones piled up The ribbonbooks. Miracle. with moon and the stars The pear tree moving me I am around and in my sigh The gift of a the stars. The person Horrorthe morsels of his choice Rebuked to me I in the apartment the pebble we in the bed. The roof rain pills Found among the moss Hers wouldnt longer careI dont know why.

Ribbons over the Pacific Sometimes we The deep additional and more and more less deep but hurting under the fire brilliant rain to meet us. Probably in moulded fire We make it times of the year the light falls from heaven love parting the separate lives her fork the specs notably fire. We get unhappy, off The love All the house Waste visits Autumn brushes the hair The girl has lived in this corner In the sunlight all year. getting up to speak Your janitor tried if it was ready I was almost killed now by reading on trial standing with the jar in the door wrapper of this year fire intangible Spoon glad the dirt around the geraniums of last Augusts dried in the yard played for certain person of course the lathes around the stars with privilege jerks over the country last year we were disgusted meeting misguided their only answer pine tree off of the land to the wind out of your medicine health, light, death preoccupation, beauty. So dont kill the stone this is desert to the arms You girl the sea in waves. of the arsenal shaded in public a hand put up lipsa house A minute the music stops.

The day it began. Person blocking the conductor Is the janitor with the red cape And the pot of flowers in one hand His face hidden by the shelf thought intangible. So is this way out into the paths of the square petals armed with a chain arctic night what with stars rocks and that fascinating illumination that buries my heart itself a tribune for which dancers come. Inch pageant of history shaping More than the forms can do quacks the night over the baths stirred in his sleep the janitor reaches for the wrench with which hell kill the intruder Terrain Glistening Doesnt resemble much the out of doors We walked around the hand observe the smashing of the rain into the door the night cant keep inside perhaps feeling the sentry the perfect disc We walked toward the bush the disc something was the matter with the disc bush had forgotten apples on the crater the northern Messenger the snow stone Though I had never come here This country, its laws of glass And night majesty Through the football Lured far away Wave helplessly The country lined with snow only mush was served piling up the undesired stars needed against the night Forbidden categorically but admitted beyond the cape the tree still grows tears fall And I am proud of these stars in our flag we dont want the flag of film waving over the sky toward uscitizens of some future state. We despair in the room, but the stars And night persist, knowing we dont want it Some tassels first then nothingday the odor. The stone. The stone.

Across the other sea, was in progress the halt sea Tens of persons blinded Immediately the port, challenge Argument Pear tree Only perforation Chain to fall apart in his hand Someday liberty to be of the press drank perhaps the lotion she added. Drank the orders. The fake ones. border his misanthropy. pear mist. the act imitation his happy stance position peace on earth ignited fluid before he falls must come under this head be liked, so may be Tears, hopeless adoration, passions the fruit of carpentered night Visible late next day.

Next page