{"id":115034,"date":"2017-09-07T11:01:42","date_gmt":"2017-09-07T15:01:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=115034"},"modified":"2017-09-06T16:34:36","modified_gmt":"2017-09-06T20:34:36","slug":"korean-soap-opera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/07\/korean-soap-opera\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cKorean Soap Opera\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This week, in memory of our longtime contributor John Ashbery, we bring you a selection of his poems from our archive.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Korean Soap Opera<\/strong><\/p>\n

My sister and I don\u2019t seem to get along too well anymore.
\nShe always has to have everything new in her house. Cherished ideals
\ndon\u2019t suit her teal, rust and eggshell color scheme.
\nOf course, I was a buyer when she was still on the street
\npeddling the Communist youth weekly. I have a degree
\nin marketing. Her boyfriend thinks I\u2019m old-fashioned.
\nWell, I guess I do have an old-fashioned mentality.<\/p>\n

What kind of a mentality
\ncauses men to commit suicide in their air-conditioned glass boxes?
\nIt has been a life of adjustments. I adjusted to the postwar boom
\nthough it broke up my family. Some took their honor to the mountains,
\nto live on wood and water. But the investment years
\nwrought havoc with the landscape. Everything is modular now, even the trees.<\/p>\n

Under the dizzying parabolas of the railroad bridge, where the thud
\nof laundry mallets used to resound, the swiftly flowing
\ncurrent is like green cream, like baize unfit for fulling.
\nSo old are the ways,
\nfor lunch one might select a large smelly radish.
\nIn the streets, as always, there is a smell of frying fish
\nno one notices. The rain cannot make up its mind.
\nOther people like it other ways.<\/p>\n

I need to interact with postal employees, civil servants, that sort of thing.
\nJust being asleep isn\u2019t enough.
\nI must cry out against injustice in whatever position
\nsleep overtakes me. Only then will I have understood what the world
\nand servants mean by self-abolishment, the key, it is said,
\nto success. To stand and contemplate the sea
\nis to comprehend part of the package. What we need, therefore,
\nis market gardens bringing a sense of time with them,
\nof this time, honed to razor-sharpness. Yet the whole
\nscheme is invisible to any shareholder, and so the feeling
\nlessens, the idea that a composite portrait
\nmay not be so important after all takes over like the shoulder
\nof a mill-wheel, slogging patiently under water, then back
\nto the zenith, where the watchword presumably is.
\nIn schools they teach things like plus and minus
\nbut not in the gorge, not in boiling mud.
\nArea residents were jolted to find what in essence
\nwas a large swamp, pythons and all, in their communal front yard.
\nTo me, this is insensate. I cannot stand the wind at my back
\nmaking of me nothing, to be handed
\nover, in turn, to this
\nman, this man. For though he weathered patiently
\nthe name, the one that occurs to all of us, he went out
\nand came in, not in the best interests of abundance;
\nnot, it seems, being anything but about to fall.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a paradox for you: if the men are segregated
\nthen why are the women not?
\nIf the rich can survive dust-storms thanks to their red-and-gold liveried
\npostilions, then you are playing with an alphabet here: nothing
\nyou invent can be a plenipotentiary,
\nturn itself inside-out, radiate
\niron spokes at the mini-landscape, and so side with a population
\nof bears, who knows? Who knows how much there can be
\nof any one thing if another one stops existing? And the word you give to this
\nman, this man, is cold,
\nfossil fuel.<\/p>\n

One snorts in the laundry, another
\nis broken beside the bed. A third is suspended
\nin a baobab for all the sins
\nno one ever knew, for sins of omission are like pearls
\nnext to the sin of not knowing, and being excused
\nfor it. So it all comes round
\nto individual responsibility and awareness,
\nthat circus of dusty dramas, denuded forests and car dealerships, a place
\nwhere anything can and does happen, and hours and hours go by.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week, in memory of our longtime contributor John Ashbery, we bring you a selection of his poems from our archive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[5234,30433,3539,165],"class_list":["post-115034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-in-memoriam","tag-john-ashbery","tag-korean-soap-opera","tag-poem","tag-poetry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cKorean Soap Opera\u201d<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This week, in memory of our longtime contributor John Ashbery, we bring you a selection of his poems from our archive.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/07\/korean-soap-opera\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u201cKorean Soap Opera\u201d by John Ashbery\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"September 7, 2017 \u2013 This week, in memory of our longtime contributor John Ashbery, we bring you a selection of his poems from our archive.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/07\/korean-soap-opera\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-09-07T15:01:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/john_ashbery_in_thought_2010_shankbone.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1111\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1033\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John Ashbery\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"John Ashbery\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/07\/korean-soap-opera\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/07\/korean-soap-opera\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"John Ashbery\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/455650604408bff2951e36b074e3471e\"},\"headline\":\"\u201cKorean Soap Opera\u201d\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-09-07T15:01:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/07\/korean-soap-opera\/\"},\"wordCount\":647,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/07\/korean-soap-opera\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/john_ashbery_in_thought_2010_shankbone.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"John Ashbery\",\"Korean Soap Opera\",\"poem\",\"poetry\"],\"articleSection\":[\"In Memoriam\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/07\/korean-soap-opera\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/07\/korean-soap-opera\/\",\"name\":\"\u201cKorean Soap Opera\u201d\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/07\/korean-soap-opera\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/07\/korean-soap-opera\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/john_ashbery_in_thought_2010_shankbone.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-09-07T15:01:42+00:00\",\"description\":\"This week, in memory of our longtime contributor John Ashbery, we bring you a selection of his poems from our archive.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/07\/korean-soap-opera\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/07\/korean-soap-opera\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/07\/korean-soap-opera\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/john_ashbery_in_thought_2010_shankbone.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/john_ashbery_in_thought_2010_shankbone.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/07\/korean-soap-opera\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"\u201cKorean Soap Opera\u201d\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/455650604408bff2951e36b074e3471e\",\"name\":\"John Ashbery\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7c910020070c2ff73f64c8a8978d01dda77a829cdfb804fc935fc8892773a6f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7c910020070c2ff73f64c8a8978d01dda77a829cdfb804fc935fc8892773a6f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"John Ashbery\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/jashbery\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\u201cKorean Soap Opera\u201d","description":"This week, in memory of our longtime contributor John Ashbery, we bring you a selection of his poems from our archive.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/07\/korean-soap-opera\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\u201cKorean Soap Opera\u201d by John Ashbery","og_description":"September 7, 2017 \u2013 This week, in memory of our longtime contributor John Ashbery, we bring you a selection of his poems from our archive.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/07\/korean-soap-opera\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2017-09-07T15:01:42+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1111,"height":1033,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/john_ashbery_in_thought_2010_shankbone.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"John Ashbery","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"John Ashbery","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/07\/korean-soap-opera\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/07\/korean-soap-opera\/"},"author":{"name":"John Ashbery","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/455650604408bff2951e36b074e3471e"},"headline":"\u201cKorean Soap Opera\u201d","datePublished":"2017-09-07T15:01:42+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/07\/korean-soap-opera\/"},"wordCount":647,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/07\/korean-soap-opera\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/john_ashbery_in_thought_2010_shankbone.jpg","keywords":["John Ashbery","Korean Soap Opera","poem","poetry"],"articleSection":["In Memoriam"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/07\/korean-soap-opera\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/07\/korean-soap-opera\/","name":"\u201cKorean Soap Opera\u201d","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/07\/korean-soap-opera\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/07\/korean-soap-opera\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/john_ashbery_in_thought_2010_shankbone.jpg","datePublished":"2017-09-07T15:01:42+00:00","description":"This week, in memory of our longtime contributor John Ashbery, we bring you a selection of his poems from our archive.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/07\/korean-soap-opera\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/07\/korean-soap-opera\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/07\/korean-soap-opera\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/john_ashbery_in_thought_2010_shankbone.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/john_ashbery_in_thought_2010_shankbone.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/07\/korean-soap-opera\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"\u201cKorean Soap Opera\u201d"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/455650604408bff2951e36b074e3471e","name":"John Ashbery","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7c910020070c2ff73f64c8a8978d01dda77a829cdfb804fc935fc8892773a6f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7c910020070c2ff73f64c8a8978d01dda77a829cdfb804fc935fc8892773a6f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"John Ashbery"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/jashbery\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/109"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115034"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115034\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":115038,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115034\/revisions\/115038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}