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“To Redouté” by John Ashbery 🇺🇸 (28 Jul 1927 – 3 Sep 2017)
To true roses uplifted on the bilious tide of evening
To morning-glories dotting the crescent day
The oval shape responds:
My first is a haunting face
In the hanging-down hair.
My second is wine:
I am a sieve.
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My only new thing:
The penalty of light forever
Over the heads of those who were there
And back into the night, the cough of the finishing petal.
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Once approved the magentas must continue,
But the bark island sees
Into the light.
It grieves for what it gives:
Tears that streak the dusty firmament.