 |
 |
"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