Hmm …

… The Pleasures of John Ashbery's "Difficult" Poetry | Literary Hub. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

… difficulty, rather than pleasure, is the quality most commonly associated with Ashbery’s literary legacy. Richard Koestelanetz opened his 1976 New York Times profile of the poet, which bears the headline “How to be a difficult poet,” with this observation: “John Ashbery’s poetry is extremely difficult, if not often impenetrable; it does not ‘work’ or ‘mean’ like traditional verse, or even most contemporary poetry.”

I have never found him all that difficult. Here is my review of Where Shall I Wander.