John Ashbery: "City Afternoon"

"A veil of haze protects this 
Long-ago afternoon forgotten by everybody 
In this photograph, most of them now 
Sucked screaming through old age and death.

If one could seize America 
Or at least a fine forgetfulness 
That seeps into our outline 
Defining our volumes with a stain 
That is fleeting too

But commemorates 
Because it does define, after all: 
Gray garlands, that threesome 
Waiting for the light to change, 
Air lifting the hair of one 
Upside down in the reflecting pool."