{"product_id":"9781480459090","title":"Flow Chart","description":"\u003cb\u003eA quintessentially American epic poem that rewrites all the rules of epic poetry—starting with the one that says epic poetry can’t be about the writing of epic poetry itself\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe appearance of \u003ci\u003eFlow Chart \u003c\/i\u003ein 1991 marked the kickoff of a remarkably prolific period in John Ashbery’s long career, a decade during which he published seven all-new books of poetry as well as a collected series of lectures on poetic form and practice. So it comes as no surprise that this book-length poem—one of the longest ever written by an American poet—reads like a rocket launch: charged, propulsive, mesmerizing, a series of careful explosions that, together, create a radical forward motion.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eIt’s been said that \u003ci\u003eFlow Chart\u003c\/i\u003e was written in response to a dare of sorts: Artist and friend Trevor Winkfield suggested that Ashbery write a poem of exactly one hundred pages, a challenge that Ashbery took up with plans to complete the poem in one hundred days. But the celebrated work that ultimately emerged from its squared-off origin story was one that the poet himself called “a continuum, a diary.” In six connected, constantly surprising movements of free verse—with the famous “sunflower” double sestina thrown in, just to reinforce the poem’s own multivarious logic—Ashbery’s poem  maps a path through modern American consciousness with all its attendant noise, clamor, and signal: “Words, however, are not the culprit. They are at worst a placebo, \/ leading nowhere (though nowhere, it must be added, can sometimes be a cozy \/ place, preferable in many cases to somewhere).”\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Open Road Media","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47163324236016,"sku":"9781480459090","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781480459090_p0.jpg?v=1763619972","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781480459090","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}