Poems by John Berryman

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Dream Song 104: Welcome, grinned Henry, welcome, fifty-one!

Welcome, grinned Henry, welcome, fifty-one!

I never cared for fifty, when nothing got done.

The hospitals were fun

in certain ways, and an honour or so,

but on the whole fifty was a mess as though

heavy clubs from below

and from—God save the bloody mark—above

were loosed upon his skull & soles. O love,

by John Berryman

Dream Song 39: Goodbye, sir, & fare well You're in the clear

Goodbye, sir, & fare well. You're in the clear.

'Nobody' (Mark says you said) 'is ever found out.'

I figure you were right,

having as Henry got away with murder

for long. Some jarred clock tell me it's late,

not for you who went straight

but for the lorn. Our roof is lefted off

lately: the shooter, and the bourbon man,

by John Berryman

Dream Song 36: The high ones die, die They die

The high ones die, die. They die. You look up and who's there?

—Easy, easy, Mr Bones. I is on your side.

I smell your grief.

—I sent my grief away. I cannot care

forever. With them all align & again I died

and cried, and I have to live.

—Now there you exaggerate, Sah. We hafta die.

That is our 'pointed task. Love & die.

by John Berryman

Dream Song 115: Her properties, like her of course & frisky & new

Her properties, like her of course & frisky & new:

a stale cake sold to kids, a 7-foot weed

inside in the Great Neck night,

a record ('great'), her work all over as u-

sual rejected. She odd in a bakery.

The owner stand beside her

and she have to sell to the brother & sister jumping

without say 'One week old.' Her indifference

by John Berryman

Dream Song 124:" Behold I bring you tidings of great joy"

Behold I bring you tidings of great joy—

especially now that the snow & gale are still—

for Henry is delivered.

Not only is he delivered from the gale

but he has a little one. He's out of jail

also. It is a boy.

Henry's pleasure in this unusual event

reminds me of the extra told at Hollywood & Vine

by John Berryman

Dream Song 81: Op posth no 4

He loom' so cagey he say 'Leema beans'

and measured his intake to the atmosphere

of that fairly stable country.

His ear hurt. Left. The rock-cliffs, a mite sheer

at his age, in these places.

Scrubbing out his fear,—

the knowledge that they will take off your hands,

both hands; as well as your both feet, & likewise

by John Berryman

Dream Song 11: His mother goes The mother comes & goes

His mother goes. The mother comes & goes.

Chen Lung's too came, came and crampt & then

that dragoner's mother was gone.

It seem we don't have no good bed to lie on,

forever. While he drawing his first breath,

while skinning his knees,

while he was so beastly with love for Charlotte Coquet

he skated up & down in front of her house

by John Berryman

Dream Song 113: or Amy Vladeck or Riva Freifeld

or Amy Vladeck or Riva Freifeld

That isna Henry limping. That's a hobble

clapped on mere Henry by the most high GOD

for the freedom of Henry's soul.

—The body's foul, cried god, once, twice, & bound it—

For many years I hid it from him successfully—

I'm not clear how he found it

But now he has it—much good may it do him

by John Berryman

Dream Song 119: Fresh-shaven, past months & a picture in New York

Fresh-shaven, past months & a picture in New York

of Beard Two, I did have Three took off. Well. .

Shadow & act, shadow & act,

Better get white or you' get whacked,

or keep so-called black

& raise new hell.

I've had enough of this dying.

You've done me a dozen goodnesses; get well.

by John Berryman

Dream Song 29: There sat down, once, a thing

There sat down, once, a thing on Henry's heart

só heavy, if he had a hundred years

& more, & weeping, sleepless, in all them time

Henry could not make good.

Starts again always in Henry's ears

the little cough somewhere, an odour, a chime.

And there is another thing he has in mind

like a grave Sienese face a thousand years

by John Berryman

Epilogue

He died in December. He must descend

Somewhere, vague and cold, the spirit and seal.

Somewhere, Imagination one’s one friend

Cannot see there. Both of us at the end.

Nouns, verbs do not exist for what I feel.

by John Berryman

Dream Song 22: Of 1826

I am the little man who smokes & smokes.

I am the girl who does know better but.

I am the king of the pool.

I am so wise I had my mouth sewn shut.

I am a government official & a goddamned fool.

I am a lady who takes jokes.

I am the enemy of the mind.

I am the auto salesman and lóve you.

by John Berryman