Selected Poems (Penguin Poets)

From the early virtuosity of Some Trees and The Tennis Court Oath through the triumphs of The Double Dream of Spring and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror to the latest brilliance of A Wave—each new collection of John Ashbery’s verse has broken new ground.

Now, from the whole range of a lifetime’s work, Ashbery has chosen his own selection of 138 poems, including short lyrics, haiku, prose poems, and many of his major long poems. Seeing these great works together in one volume, readers will be able to savor a distillation of John Ashbery’s work and appreciate fully how remarkable is his achievement.

“Contains Ashbery’s greatest work and confirms his position as one of America’s finest poets since Wallace Stevens.”—Edward Guerschi, Newsday

“Mr. Ashbery remains one of his generation’s most gifted and eloquent poets . . . He writes persuasively—and movingly—of the poetic process, of the attempts of the artist to wring order out of chaos.”—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

“No other poet is as daring . . .. None inhabits such a Versailles of the imagination. This formidable new volume offers the finest of his oeuvre.”—Carolyn Forche, Vanity Fair