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This poem is taken from PN Review 203, Volume 38 Number 3, January - February 2012.

Seven Poems and 8 Collages John Ashbery
Iphigenia in Sodus

Why does that name sound so familiar?
If I were you I shouldn't worry, or ask.

But - isn't that collusion?
Well, yes, technically it is,

but we're a long way from truth here.
Well, it all seems right, but we'll have to

put different bodies on the gentlemen -
Something that speaks to truth, as she is now,

which is how we all had envisioned her:
wrapped in jade strips, more or less flyblown,

somewhat sloppy about the mouth these days.
Excuse me, I had issues,

but then the doors sagged, the window frames
had disappeared a long time ago into the murk

of this age. Seen now, she pivots frantically
...


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