Lucía M. Polis The Poetry of

Because the burial site of John Ashbery is unknown, this poem is to be sung by moonlight while dancing a jig on the grave of Vladimir Nabokov in the Cimetière de Clarens (near Montreux).

⚠️ WARNING! ⚠️
The reading of this poem is prohibited by Babi.
Its translation is precluded by Kresnik.
Its comprehension is proscribed by Xolotl.

Erstwhile mordant, thalassic…aroint, withal!


Descant peplum, acerb porphyry osier,
pestiferous clepsydra, mullet trousseau,
miscible roustabout bey—rusticated,
clabbered, pollarded.

                               Fettle parergon
purlieu eftsoons, scrimmage tergiversation:
Etiolated planisphere (jejeune
monodrama: ineluctable, hieratic).

Seamarks suffuse specious Cistercian chattel,
careworn. Spandrel weigela bushing gage;
sumptuary rondelay, bizzaría.
Nervure? Filiation.


                            Velleity.
Lapidary diapason mendicant,
margrave machicolation falbalas,
déconfit plumbago jacquerie? Carte du Tendre!

Borborygmic algolagnia! Cozen
bocage acajou! Hie, garance trouvaille.
Sackbut delphinium (or perhaps larkspur),
Clangor syringa;

                         gentian hummock pavane.
Stellification burthen ruching plinth.
Windrows extenuated (meaning thinned),
convolvulus dandle eglantine sward.


Squirearchy eclogue doffing demotic weir;
frieze expiation oratorio.
Chroniqueurs? Gibbet.

                                 Slag stomacher stipple:
lunette, viburnum, hollyhocks, quietude.
(Beatitude fardel. Tubers susurrate,
suppurate Cimmerian, pellucid.)

Spar attitudinize, accrete, shanghai
paling, quincunx sonatina:
Frei, aber einsam. Microtone dishpan


enchaliced incertitude. Duff.