This Room is a renowned poem by John Ashbery, one of the most influential American poets. Published in 1999, the poem talks about the nature of the room itself, which is represented as a metaphor for introspection and the inner thoughts of the mind. It also explores themes like memory, domestic nostalgia, and shifting identity. Born in 1927, John Ashbery wrote more than 20 books of poetry and won many literary prizes, like the Pulitzer Prize.
The room I entered was a dream of this room.
Surely all those feet on the sofa were mine.
The oval portrait
of a dog was me at an early age.
Something shimmers, something is hushed up.
We had macaroni for lunch every day
except Sunday, when a small quail was induced
to be served to us. Why do I tell you these things?
You are not even here.