Jonathan Mayhew

makes an observation about John Koethe over at Bemsha Swing to which I'm partially sympathetic:

"Koethe, whose poetry I don't at all dislike, basically imitates a single facet of Ashbery's more complex work in a skillful but ultimately, to my mind, limited way."

I agree that Koethe's best work is essentially Asberyan. The "single facet" that he imitates, however, is to my mind Ashbery's best facet. To see Koethe-as-Ashbery in action, look at his poem "Adelaide" in The Canary #3.