John Ashberry

John Ashberry is well known in the poetry world and has had a prolific literary career. Mr. Ashberry was born on July 28th, 1927 in New York and has won numerous awards. Until recently I had not been able to get my hands on a book of his and was quite happy to find one in the library since I’d heard of him so often. I’ll also admit that some of his poems were a little over my head at times but there is something for everyone in the volume of poems titled Where Shall I Wander published in 2005 by HarperCollins.
“A Visit to the House of Fools” has clever imagery from the opening line: “The year subsides into clouds/more beautiful than any I have seen—“ and further down the poem is “Test tubes doze. A wide window watches the sea.” I love reading such lines because my imagination soars to soak in what the images would look like.
“Interesting People of Newfoundland” is funny as it discusses all the local townsfolk and their quirks as well as town landmarks. I wish I was able to write something like this. For example: “Doc Hanks, the sawbones, was a real good surgeon/when he wasn’t completely drunk, which was most of the time.”
This is only the tip of the iceberg of Ashberry’s poems. The link below provides links to some poems he has written along with an audio poem. Please check him out at:

http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/238

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