All Poems
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Dream Song 134: Sick at 6 & sick again at 9
© John Berryman
Sick at 6 & sick again at 9
was Henry's gloomy Monday morning oh.
Still he had to lecture.
They waited, his little children, for stricken Henry
to rise up yet once more again and come oh.
They figured he was a fixture,
Dream Song 78: Op. posth. no. 1
© John Berryman
Darkened his eye, his wild smile disappeared,
inapprehensible his studies grew,
nourished he less & less
his subject body with good food & rest,
something bizarre about Henry, slowly sheared
off, unlike you & you,
A Wife Deplores The Absence Of Her Husband
© Confucius
Away the startled pheasant flies,
With lazy movement of his wings.
Borne was my heart's lord from my eyes;--
What pain the separation brings!
Dream Song 10: There were strange gatherings. A vote would come
© John Berryman
There were strange gatherings. A vote would come
that would be no vote. There would come a rope.
Yes. There would come a rope.
Men have their hats down. "Dancing in the Dark"
will see him up, car-radio-wise. So many, some
won't find a rut to park.
Dream Song 35: MLA
© John Berryman
Hey, out there!âassistant professors, full,
associates,âinstructorsâothersâanyâ
I have a sing to shay.
We are assembled here in the capital
city for Dullâand one professor's wife is Maryâ
at Christmastide, hey!
Love And War
© Arthur Patchett Martin
THE CHANCELLOR mused as he nibbled his pen
(Sure no Minister ever looked wiser),
Dream Song 69: Love her he doesn't but the thought he puts
© John Berryman
Love her he doesn't but the thought he puts
into that young woman
would launch a national product
complete with TV spots & skywriting
outlets in Bonn & Tokyo
I mean it
The Touchstone
© Edith Nesbit
There was a garden, very strange and fair
With all the roses summer never brings.
The snowy blossom of immortal Springs
Lighted its boughs, and I, even I, was there.
There were new heavens, and the earth was new,
And still I told my heart the dream was true.
Dream Song 75: Turning it over, considering
© John Berryman
Turning it over, considering, like a madman
Henry put forth a book.
No harm resulted from this.
Neither the menstruating stars (nor man) was moved
at once.
Bare dogs drew closer for a second look
Argentile and Curan. - extracted from Albion's England
© William Warner
The Brutons thus departed hence, seaven kingdoms here begonne,
Where diversly in divers broyls the Saxons lost and wonne.
Dream Song 45: He stared at ruin. Ruin stared straight back
© John Berryman
He stared at ruin. Ruin stared straight back.
He thought they was old friends. He felt on the stair
where her papa found them bare
they became familiar. When the papers were lost
rich with pals' secrets, he thought he had the knack
of ruin. Their paths crossed
Blackcurrant River
© Arthur Rimbaud
Blackcurrant river rolls unknown in strange valleys;
the voices of a hundred rooks go with it,
the true benevolent voice of angles:
with the wide movements of the fir woods
when several winds sweep down.
Dream Song 21: Some good people, daring & subtle voices
© John Berryman
Some good people, daring & subtle voices
and their tense faces, as I think of it
I see sank underground.
I see. My radar digs. I do not dig.
Cool their flushing blood, them eyes is shutâ
eyes?
Monochromes
© Madison Julius Cawein
The last rose falls, wrecked of the wind and rain;
Where once it bloomed the thorns alone remain:
Dead in the wet the slow rain strews the rose.
The day was dim; now eve comes on again,
Grave as a life weighed down by many woes,--
So is the joy dead, and alive the pain.
Dream Song 44: Tell it to the forest fire, tell it to the moon
© John Berryman
Tell it to the forest fire, tell it to the moon,
mention it in general to the moon
on the way down,
he's about to have his lady, permanent;
and this is the worst of all came ever sent
writhing Henry's way.
To Samet Vurgun
© Nazim Hikmet
But the day will come
when I'll totally separate you from yourself, Samet.
You'll enter the world of respectable memories.
And I'll lay flowers on your grave
without tears in my eyes.
Dream Song 111: I miss him. When I get back to camp
© John Berryman
I miss him. When I get back to camp
I'll dig him up. Well, he can prop & watch,
can't he, pink or blue,
and I will talk to him. I miss him. Slams,
grand or any, aren't for the tundra much.
One face-card will do.
Amadis And Oriana
© Madison Julius Cawein
From "Beltenebros at Miraflores"
O sunset, from the springs of stars
Dream Song 98: I met a junior--not so junior--and
© John Berryman
I met a juniorânot so juniorâand
a-many others, who knew 'him' or 'them'
long ago, slightly,
whom I know. It was the usual
cocktail party, only (my schedule being strict)
beforehand.
