Monday, August 20, 2007

from Baked Alaska

John Ashbery (1993)

It will do. It's not
perfect, but it will do
until something better comes along.

It's not perfect.
It stinks. How are we
going to get out of having it
until something comes along, some ride
or other? That will return us
to the nominative case, shipshape and easy.

O but how long are you going to wait
for what you are waiting for, for
whatever is to come? Not
for long, you may be sure.
It may be here already.
Have you checked the mailbox today?

1 comment:

dan said...

this is only the first three stanzas of the poem Baked Alaska, from The Best of the Best American Poetry (1988-1997).