22.9.23

John Ashbery on aspiring to the condition of music

Composers [of music] do have . . . the enviable task of writing in a language that cannot be argued with or even deciphered but which nevertheless has its meaning and its thrust. That’s what I envy the most about composing, and I’m trying to do that in poetry, but unfortunately that’s impossible, because everybody understands words, and the words have more or less the same meaning for everyone.

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