>But I'd be more forgiving of Whitman. I had the bad luck of going to
>one of Ashberry's self-absorbed poetry readings at U.C.L.A. The
>poetry was delicately frozen and the guy had the handsomeness of a
>tailor's dummy and what appeared to be a permanent tan.
Don't get me wrong - I love Whitman's stuff (which, as I recall, once earned a denunciation from Yoshie for his imperialism). I loved Ashbery too, back in the days when I used to read poetry - and I loved the way he read. His poems made more sense when he read them aloud than when I tried to read them myself.
Doug