l'heure exquisée

From a message from Belle to J, 14 July 2008

It's a beautiful hour here, the time of day when landscapes and interiors take on a timeless light. After six, it's past late afternoon, not yet dusk, not yet the gloaming. Is there a name for precisely this in-between time, I wonder? I think of the Hawaiian "flash," the fabled tourist moment before the sun, descending by degrees, sinks finally into the sea, at which moment - or just before - there might appear a sudden flash of green. That's not it, here; no flash. Throughout the house and across the vast surrounding landscape and terrain, it's time suspended in green and gold.

***

We know these women from our postcards:
Beautiful, but inclined to blow away...

***
A new Pottery Barn catalogue also came in the mail yesterday.


Darling, I won't blow away.

Because I like it better, here, near the core.
You are sitting on the sofa.
Have a glass of something.

***
credits:
L'Heure Exquisée, collage, John Ashbery
February 2010 Pottery Barn catalogue
"Happy as the Sun," John Ashbery, Planisphere, p. 36
"He Who Loves and Runs Away," John Ashbery, Planisphere, p. 37-38