Thanks, Jon. It reminds me of a tale I often tell students. Decades
ago I read the Dream Songs with complete puzzlement. Here was this guy
Berryman and these 'new' poems which were being praised to the skies,
and I couldn't get a handle on them. Then, through our enlightened
city library, I heard Berryman read them. All the lights came on! They
were Dramatic Poems and I had been reading them as Lyrics. It is so
good to hear them read, and especially by himself. I tell students
this because listening to a poem will often clarify confusions in the
mind of the reader. I am definitely not saying that all poets are good
readers of their own works!
I next tried writing a couple myself because that way you truly get
into the nuts and bolts of a 'new' form. This helped immensely. (A
couple were published in Mother Waits For Father Late,)
Andrew
2009/5/14 Jon Corelis <[log in to unmask]>:
> Dream song 4
>
> by John Berryman
>
> Filling her compact & delicious body
> with chicken paprika, she glanced at me
> twice.
> Fainting with interest, I hungered back
> and only the fact of her husband & four other people
> kept me from springing on her
>
> or falling at her little feet and crying
> 'You are the hottest one for years of night
> Henry's dazed eyes
> have enjoyed, Brilliance.' I advanced upon
> (despairing) my spumoni.—Sir Bones: is stuffed,
> de world, wif feeding girls.
>
> —Black hair, complexion Latin, jewelled eyes
> downcast ... The slob beside her feasts ... What wonders is
> she sitting on, over there?
> The restaurant buzzes. She might as well be on Mars.
> Where did it all go wrong? There ought to be a law against Henry.
> —Mr. Bones: there is.
>
>
> --
> ===============================================
>
> Jon Corelis http://jcorelis.googlepages.com/joncorelis
>
> ===============================================
>
--
Andrew
http://hispirits.blogspot.com/
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