Kenneth Koch



“And, with a shout, collecting coat-hangers 
Dour rebus, conch, hip 
Ham, the autumn day, oh how genuine! 
Literary frog, catch-all boxer, O 
Real! The magistrate, say “group,' bower, undies 
Disk, poop, “Timon of Athens.” When 
The bugle shimmies, how glove towns! 
It's merrimac, bends, and pure gymnasium 
Impy keels! The earth desks, madmen 
Impose a shy (oops) broken tube's child--- 
Land! Why are your bandleaders troops 
Or is? Honk, can the mailed rose 
Gesticulate? Arm the paper arm! 
Bind up the chow in its lintel of sniff. 
Rush the pilgrims, destroy tobacco, pool 
The dirty beautiful jingling pyjamas, at 
Last beside the stove-drum-preventing oyster, 
The “Caesar” of tower dins, the cold's “I'm 
A dear.” O bed, at which I used to sneer at. 
Bringing cloth. O song, “Dusted hoops!” He gave 
A dish of. The bear, that sound of pins. O French 
Ice-cream! balconies of deserted snuff! The hills are 
very underwear, and near “to be” 
An angel is shouting, “Wilder baskets!” 


1st stanza of When the Sun Tries to Go On 

John Ashbery

  The New Spirit (excerpt) I thought that if I could put it all down, that would be one way. And next the thought came to me that to leave a...