In Quick Question John Ashbery extends an invitation to readers to
accompany him into the extraordinary worlds of the everyday, experienced
through the box of tricks that is language. He revels in twist and
transformation, the constant mutability of words and things: 'Whatever
stops playing is the enemy of the incomplete'. He can stop us in our
tracks with the accuracy of his perception: 'Somewhere in America
someone is trying to figure out / how to pay for this'. Aware of the
paradoxes of his own writing, he teases us with questions: 'Is it all
doggerel and folderol?' 'Would I lie to you?' Either way, his invitation
is irresistible: come in, see what happens.