John Ashbery - Moment Quotes

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Well, there are certain stock words that I have found myself using a great deal. When I become aware of them, it is an alarm signal meaning I am falling back on something that has served in the past—it is a sign of not thinking at the present moment, not that there is anything intrinsically bad about certain words or phrases.

John Ashbery

This whole moment is the groin
Of a borborygmic giant who even now
Is rolling over on us in his sleep.

John Ashbery

The soul is not a soul,
Has no secret, is small, and it fits
Its hollow perfectly: its room, our moment of attention.

John Ashbery

It is because everything is relative
That we shall never see in that sphere of pure wisdom and
Entertainment much more than groping shadows of an incomplete
Former existence so close it burns like the mouth that
Closes down over all your effort like the moment
Of death

John Ashbery

Sometimes a musical phrase would perfectly sum up
The mood of a moment. One of those lovelorn sonatas
For wind instruments was riding past on a solemn white horse.
Everybody wondered who the new arrival was.

John Ashbery