John Berryman

(1914-1972)
From “The Dream Songs” (1964-1968)
29
45

I read that there were 384 Dream Songs in total, so I read the first and last to try to get a direction for his writing. O my goodness! Wanting to dig up his dead father just to… It is horrible. Don’t read it. But it that is just a symptom of what is going on in Berryman. I can’t read this as persona. He has to be dealing with his Dad’s suicide. Suicide is so sad and awful; we are ALL born with God-given dignity, value, worth, and purpose. That man left such a whole in his son’s life. He wasn’t there. He couldn’t pour himself into John’s life. Berryman seems absolutely wild wanting something in his life. Some longings are undeniably present within us and at the same time, seem ethereal and half-seen in their nature. The best ones we can take for granted, if we have had them. Berryman’s life is tragic and reminds me of the value of every act of love, the value of everything that seems common.