This poem is taken from PN Review 207, Volume 39 Number 1, September - October 2012.
Three Poems for John Ashbery
Poisson d'Avril
The fish is for the bear I'll surely meet.
Meanwhile, Gretelchen has been enchanted,
she has turned into a million different things.
Gretel is a tree, she's a bird, she's a bee.
'What sort of song is that?', you might ask.
'It's not part of the story.'
It's not a song, it's the undertow;
the undertow you can't outwit.
What else can I say?
These flowers, for instance, typical Gretel.
Lush deep pink, the perfect shade of lipstick
for an April morning. You guessed it,
I'm burdened with roses.
I take them now to my grandmamma.
Through this forest I go; who cares if my way is long.
The fish is Gretel too. The bear needs to eat her
...
The fish is for the bear I'll surely meet.
Meanwhile, Gretelchen has been enchanted,
she has turned into a million different things.
Gretel is a tree, she's a bird, she's a bee.
'What sort of song is that?', you might ask.
'It's not part of the story.'
It's not a song, it's the undertow;
the undertow you can't outwit.
What else can I say?
These flowers, for instance, typical Gretel.
Lush deep pink, the perfect shade of lipstick
for an April morning. You guessed it,
I'm burdened with roses.
I take them now to my grandmamma.
Through this forest I go; who cares if my way is long.
The fish is Gretel too. The bear needs to eat her
...
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