Jeff Hipsher has posted
this excellent interview that Bruce Kawin conducted with John Ashbery in 1966. At the time Bruce hosted a half-hour radio show, "Literary Workshop," on WKCR, Columbia's radio station. (He was editor-in-chief of
Columbia Review in my freshman year.) The interview begins with JA reading "These Lacustrine Cities," the opening poem in
Rivers and Mountains, his 1965 collection. Far less reticent than in later years, JA — then still in his 30s — responds at length to questions and says he believes that all poetry must communicate and that he hopes his poems do. The line between "incomprehensible" and "obscure" must be drawn, he says. He patiently explains "These Lacustrine Cities" line by line. The pronouns in his poems, he says, "can never be trusted to refer to any single person for any length of time" and illustrates with examples. The conversation with Kawin is meant to disprove that poetry is "incomprehensible."
After doing his best to illuminate "These Lacustrine Cities," John is asked to read the poem a second time, and he does. Then he reads the title poem of River and Mountains, "Civilization and Its Discontents," "The Ecclesiast," and others from the recently published volume, which had been nominated for the National Book Award. The show lasts about 27 minutes. — DL
https://media.sas.upenn.edu/pennsound/authors/Ashbery/Ashbery-John_Complete-Reading_Interview-Bruce-Kawin_WKCR_5-5-66.mp3
Painting by Fairfield Porter, John Ashbery (Argyle Socks), 1952.