One of the main aspects of my job with Ashbery was typing dictated correspondence and professional writing, an activity that at first seemed a vestige of a bygone era, but soon became one of my favorite parts of the position. Through typing what he spoke to me, I learned so much not only about Ashbery, his interests, his life and work, but also his voice and his many carefully tended friendships.
Taking dictation is a strange kind of channeling, in which another’s language momentarily flows through you. This can also be a lot like writing poetry, as with Orpheus—the poet character in one of Ashbery’s favorite films, Jean Cocteau’s Orphée (1950)—who grasped for fragments of poetry transmitted over a car radio frequency from the underworld.