John Ashbery

In the first selection "They Dream Only of America" I was curious who the poem was really talking specifically about because the speaker seems to change a few times. I mean in the title "they" is used and "he" as well along with "we"; however with the change in point of view I wasn't entirely sure who the poem was referring to directly. I assumed that Ashbery was talking about family members and himself too. The 3rd-5Th stanzas really made me wonder if he might be talking about his father and the very last line also contributed that assumption as well. I kind of wander if maybe he is reflecting on some fond moments with his father or maybe they are on a road trip together. The one part that really was tricky for me to understand was line 17, which I wondered who Ashbery was referring to in that line when "he" is used. For me, I can't seem to come up with a conclusion on what the "cigar" and the "key" represented because of my uncertainty about the speaker of the poem. The only main conclusion I could draw from "Street Musicians" was perhaps Ashbery observed the daily life's of street musicians in a urban setting watching how they maintain survival. I also thought that he might have gotten some of his information directly from a street musician through maybe a personal interactions if indeed my assumption is correct. I say that only because in some of the lines like 15-22 seems like some of that information probably would only be known by someone who actually experienced it first hand.