“I tried each thing, only some were immortal and free.” This is one of the monumental specific collections of poetry in the second half of American 20th century poetry. John Ashberry was a legend and titan, and only recently died at 90. This is often considered a masterwork, culminating in the long title poem. The poetry here is often refracted a little, meaning, while it’s about something, it’s not directly written in reaction to it. There’s a tension throughout the collection between language and form, […]