"Can you say how Berryman & Rukeyser were terrifying?"
Berryman was so drunk he nearly fell of the (rather high) stage. When David
Wagoner had introduced him, Berryman staggered to to lectern, let out a huge
sound somewhere between a Hrumph & a sigh, the leaned dangerously toward the
audience & remarked conspiratorially, "I thank Mr. Wagoner very much, but
I'll have none of it!" He then read from the Dream Songs without so much as
slurring a syllable, for nearly an hour.
Rukeyser had had a fairly debilitating stroke -- this was near the end of
her life -- and yet she hit each word, each tone, each rhythm flawlessly.
Her concentration was mesmerizing. Heroic -- not one shred of self-pity, or
even self regard.
As for Snyder, he had a huge audience when I saw him, too. Seemed like he
was reading from behind a counterculture persona to me.
Joe
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