Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror Review



Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror by John Ashbery
Date Read: 13 August 2016
My Rating: 4 Stars

Synopsis:

John Ashberry won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award for Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror. Ashberry reaffirms the poetic powers that have made him such an outstanding figure in contemporary literature. This new book continues his astonishing explorations of places where no one has ever been.

My Review:

"Versions of cities flattened under the equalizing night.
The summer demands and takes away too much,
But night, the reserved, reticent, gives more than it takes."
- As One Put Drunk into the Packet Boat

There are so many emotions in this collection: loneliness, grief, sadness, hope, longing, fear--they are all so strong but not overpowering.

I love whenever he talks about stillness and silence. Those moments are so peaceful and full of possibility. It almost makes you ache to be in one of those moments.

His thoughts on writing and what it takes to be a writer and writes are so perfectly beautiful.

There seems to be a theme of forgotten moments and trying to recapture those moments.

Any time he mentioned the night or any water, I just loved. Mainly because I love both of those things, but also because there was so much care in those details that they become so realistic.

My Favorite Poems from the Collection:
As One Put Drunk into the Packet Boat
A Man of Words
Grand Galop
River
The One Thing that Can Save America
Ode to Bill

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