Home ⇒ 📌John Berryman ⇒ Dream Song 3: A Stimulant for an Old Beast
Dream Song 3: A Stimulant for an Old Beast
Acacia, burnt myrrh, velvet, pricky stings.
€”I’m not so young but not so very old,
Said screwed-up lovely 23.
A final sense of being right out in the cold,
Unkissed.
(—My psychiatrist can lick your psychiatrist.) Women get under
things.
All these old criminals sooner or later
Have had it. I’ve been reading old journals.
Gottwald & Co., out of business now.
Thick chests quit. Double agent, Joe.
She holds her breath like a seal
And is whiter & smoother.
Rilke was a jerk.
I admit his griefs & music
& titled spelled all-disappointed ladies.
A threshold worse than the circles
Where the vile settle & lurk,
Rilke’s. As I said, —
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Related poetry:
- Dream Song 13: God bless Henry God bless Henry. He lived like a rat, With a thatch of hair on his head In the beginning. Henry was not a coward. Much. He never deserted anything; instead He stuck, when things like pity were thinning. So may be Henry was a human being. Let’s investigate that. … We did; okay. He is […]...
- Dream Song 12: Sabbath There is an eye, there was a slit. Nights walk, and confer on him fear. The strangler tree, the dancing mouse Confound his vision; then they loosen it. Henry widens. How did Henry House Himself ever come here? Nights run. Tes yeux bizarres me suivent When loth at landfall soft I leave. The soldiers, Coleridge […]...
- Dream Song 115: Her properties, like her of course & frisky & new Her properties, like her of course & frisky & new: A stale cake sold to kids, a 7-foot weed Inside in the Great Neck night, A record (‘great’), her work all over as u- Sual rejected. She odd in a bakery. The owner stand beside her And she have to sell to the brother & […]...
- Dream Song 58: Industrious, affable, having brain on fire Industrious, affable, having brain on fire, Henry perplexed himself; others gave up; Good girls gave in; Geography was hard on friendship, Sire; Marriages lashed & languished, anguished; dearth of group And what else had been; The splendour & the lose grew all the same, Sire. His heart stiffened, and he failed to smile, Catching (enfit) […]...
- Dream Song 91: Op. posth. no. 14 Noises from underground made gibber some Others collected & dug henry up Saying ‘You are a sight.’ Chilly, he muttered for a double rum Waving the mikes away, putting a stop To rumors, pushing his fright Off with the now accumulated taxes Accustomed in his way to solitude And no bills. Wives came forward, claiming […]...
- Dream Song 2: Big Buttons, Cornets: the advance The jane is zoned! no nightspot here, no bar There, no sweet freeway, and no premises For business purposes, No loiterers or needers. Henry are Baffled. Have ev’ybody head for Maine, Utility-man take a train? Arrive a time when all coons lose dere grip, But is he come? Le’s do a hoedown, gal, One blue, […]...
- Dream Song 114: Henry in trouble whirped out lonely whines Henry in trouble whirped out lonely whines. When ich when was ever not in trouble? But did he whip out whines Afore? And when check in wif ales & lifelines Anyone earlier O? —Some, now, Mr Bones, Many. —I am fleeing double: Mr Past being no friends of mine, All them around: Sir Future Dubious, […]...
- Dream Song 122: He published his girl's bottom in staid pages He published his girl’s bottom in staid pages Of an old weekly. Where will next his rages Ridiculous Henry land? Tranquil & chaste, de-hammocked, he descended— Upon which note the fable should have ended— Towards the ground, and While fable wound itself upon him thick And coats upon his tongue formed, white, terrific: He stretched […]...
- Dream Song 50: In a motion of night they massed nearer my post In a motion of night they massed nearer my post. I hummed a short blues. When the stars went out I studied my weapons system. Grenades, the portable rack, the yellow spout Of the anthrax-ray: in order. Yes, and most Of my pencils were sharp. This edge of the galaxy has often seen A defence […]...
- Dream Song 49: Blind Old Pussy-cat if he won’t eat, he don’t Feel good into his tum’, old Pussy-cat. He wants to have eaten. Tremor, heaves, he sweaterings. He can’t. A dizzy swims of where is Henry at; . . . somewhere streng verboten. How come he sleeps & sleeps and sleeps, waking like death: Locate the restorations of […]...
- Dream Song 46: I am, outside. Incredible I am, outside. Incredible panic rules. People are blowing and beating each other without mercy. Drinks are boiling. Iced Drinks are boiling. The worse anyone feels, the worse Treated he is. Fools elect fools. A harmless man at an intersection said, under his breath, “Christ!” That word, so spoken, affected the vision Of, when they […]...
- Dream Song 86: Op. posth. no. 9 The conclusion is growing. . . I feel sure, my lord, This august court will entertain the plea Not Guilty by reason of death. I can say no more except that for the record I add that all the crimes since all the times he Died will be due to the breath Of unknown others, […]...
- Dream Song 131: Come touch me baby in his waking dream Come touch me baby in his waking dream Disordered Henry murmured. I’ll read you Hegel And that will hurt your mind I can’t remember when you were unkind But I will clear that block, I’ll set you on fire Along with our babies To save them up the high & ruined stairs, My growing daughters. […]...
- Dream Song 81: Op. posth. no. 4 He loom’ so cagey he say ‘Leema beans’ And measured his intake to the atmosphere Of that fairly stable country. His ear hurt. Left. The rock-cliffs, a mite sheer At his age, in these places. Scrubbing out his fear, — The knowledge that they will take off your hands, Both hands; as well as your […]...
- The Stupid Jerk I’m Obsessed With The stupid jerk I’m obsessed with Stands so close to me I can feel his breath On my neck And smell The way he would smell If we slept together Because he is the stupid jerk I’m obsessed with And that is his primary function in life To be a stupid jerk I can obsess […]...
- Dream Song 43: 'Oyez, oyez!' The Man Who Did Not Deliver ‘Oyez, oyez!’ The Man Who Did Not Deliver Is before you for his deliverance, my lords. He stands, as charged For This by banks, That cops, by lawyers, by Publishingers for Them. I doubt he’ll make Old bones. Be. I warned him, of a summer night: consist, Consist. Ex-wives roar. Further, the Crown holds that […]...
- Dream Song 132: A Small Dream A Small Dream It was only a small dream of the Golden World, Now you trot off to bed. I’ll turn the machine off, You’ve danced & trickt us enough. Unintelligible whines & imprecations, hurled From the second floor, fail to impress your mother And I am the only other And I say go to […]...
- Writing often it is the only Thing Between you and Impossibility. No drink, No woman’s love, No wealth Can Match it. Nothing can save You Except Writing. It keeps the walls From Failing. The hordes from Closing in. It blasts the Darkness. Writing is the Ultimate Psychiatrist, The kindliest God of all the Gods. Writing stalks […]...
- Dream Song 103: I consider a song will be as humming-bird I consider a song will be as humming-bird Swift, down-light, missile-metal-hard, & strange As the world of anti-matter Where they are wondering: does time run backward— Which the poet thought was true; Scarlatti-supple; But can Henry write it? Wreckt, in deep danger, he shook once his head, Returning to meditation. And word had sped All […]...
- Dream Song 52: Silent Song Bright-eyed & bushy tailed woke not Henry up. Bright though upon his workshop shone a vise Central, moved in While he was doing time down hospital And growing wise. He gave it the worst look he had left. Alone. They all abandoned Henry—wonder! all, When most he—under the sun. That was all right. He can’t […]...
- Dream Song 11: His mother goes. The mother comes & goes His mother goes. The mother comes & goes. Chen Lung’s too came, came and crampt & then That dragoner’s mother was gone. It seem we don’t have no good bed to lie on, Forever. While he drawing his first breath, While skinning his knees, While he was so beastly with love for Charlotte Coquet He […]...
- Dream Song 23: The Lay of Ike This is the lay of Ike. Here’s to the glory of the Grewt WhiteГўв‚”awkГўв‚” Who has been runningГўв‚”erГўв‚”erГўв‚”things in recentГўв‚”echГўв‚” In the UnitedГўв‚”If your screen is black, Ladies & gentlemen, weГўв‚”I likeГўв‚” At the Point he was already terrificГўв‚”sick To a second term, having done no wrongГўв‚” No rightГўв‚”no  – rightГўв‚”having let the ArmyГўв‚”bangГўв‚” […]...
- Dream Song 19: Here, whence Here, whence All have departed orwill do, here airless, where That witchy ball Wanted, fought toward, dreamed of, all a green living Drops limply into one’s hands Without pleasure or interest Figurez-vous, a time swarms when the word ‘happy’ sheds its whole meaning, like to come and Like for memory too That morning arrived to […]...
- Dream Song 35: MLA Hey, out there! —assistant professors, full, Associates, —instructors—others—any— I have a sing to shay. We are assembled here in the capital City for Dull—and one professor’s wife is Mary— At Christmastide, hey! And all of you did theses or are doing And the moral history of what we were up to Thrives in Sir Wilson’s […]...
- Dream Song 80: Op. posth. no. 3 It’s buried at a distance, on my insistence, buried. Weather’s severe there, which it will not mind. I miss it. O happies before & during & between the times it got married. I hate the love of leaving it behind, Deteriorating & hopeless that. The great Uh climbed above me, far above me, Doing the […]...
- Dream Song 75: Turning it over, considering 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 And performed their friendly operations there. Refreshed, the bark rejoiced. Seasons went and came. Leaves fell, but only a few. […]...
- Dream Song 36: The high ones die, die. They die The high ones die, die. They die. You look up and who’s there? €”Easy, easy, Mr Bones. I is on your side. I smell your grief. €”I sent my grief away. I cannot care Forever. With them all align & again I died And cried, and I have to live. €”Now there you exaggerate, Sah. […]...
- Dream Song 87: Op. posth. no. 10 these hearings endlessly, friends, word is had Henry may be returning to our life Adult & difficult. There exist rumors that remote and sad And quite beyond the knowledge of his wife To the foothills of the cult Will come in silence this distinguished one Essaying once again the lower slopes In triumph, keeping up […]...
- Dream Song 99: Temples He does not live here but it is the god. A priest tools in a top his motorbike. You do not enter. Us the landscape circles hard abroad, Sunned, stone. Like calls, too low, to like. One submachine-gun cleared the Durga Temple. It is very dark here in this groping forth Gulp rhubarb for a […]...
- Dream Song 126: A Thurn A Thurn Among them marble where the man may lie Lie chieftains grand in final phase, or pause, ‘O rare Ben Jonson’, Dictator too, & the thinky other Johnson, Dictator too, backhanders down of laws, Men of fears, weird & sly. Not of these least is borne to rest. If grandeur & mettle prompted his […]...
- Dream Song 37: Three around the Old Gentleman His malice was a pimple down his good Big face, with its sly eyes. I must be sorry Mr Frost has left: I like it so less I don’t understood— He couldn’t hear or see well—all we sift— But this is a bad story. He had fine stories and was another man In private; difficult, […]...
- Dream Song 89: Op. posth. no. 12 In a blue series towards his sleepy eyes They slid like wonder, women tall & small, Of every shape & size, In many languages to lisp ‘We do’ To Henry almost waking. What is the night at all, His closed eyes beckon you. In the Marriage of the Dead, a new routine, He gasped his […]...
- Dream Song 78: Op. posth. no. 1 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, Smaller & smaller, till in question stood His eyeteeth and one block of memories These were enough for him Implying […]...
- Dream Song 67: I don't operate often. When I do I don’t operate often. When I do, Persons take note. Nurses look amazed. They pale. The patient is brought back to life, or so. The reason I don’t do this more (I quote) Is: I have a living to fail— Because of my wife & son—to keep from earning. €”Mr Bones, I sees that. They […]...
- Dream Song 22: Of 1826 I am the little man who smokes & smokes. I am the girl who does know better but. I am the king of the pool. I am so wise I had my mouth sewn shut. I am a government official & a goddamned fool. I am a lady who takes jokes. I am the enemy […]...
- Dream Song 83: Op. posth. no. 6 I recall a boil, whereupon as I had to sit, Just where, and when I had to, for deadlines. O I could learn to type standing, But isn’t it slim to be slumped off from that, Problems undignified, fiery dig salt mines? — Content on one’s black flat: Soming no deadline—is all ancient nonsense— No […]...
- Dream Song 84: Op. posth. no. 7 Plop, plop. The lobster toppled in the pot, Fulfilling, dislike man, his destiny, Glowing fire-red, Succulent, and on the whole becoming what Man wants. I crack my final claw singly, Wind up the grave, & to bed. €”Sound good, Mr Bones. I wish I had me some. (I spose you got a lessen up your […]...
- Dream Song 79: Op. posth. no. 2 Whence flew the litter whereon he was laid? Of what heroic stuff was warlock Henry made? And questions of that sort Perplexed the bulging cosmos, O in short Was sandalwood in good supply when he Flared out of history & the obituary in The New York Times Into the world of generosity Creating the air […]...
- Dream Song 90: Op. posth. no. 13 In the night-reaches dreamed he of better graces, Of liberations, and beloved faces, Such as now ere dawn he sings. It would not be easy, accustomed to these things, To give up the old world, but he could try; Let it all rest, have a good cry. Let Randall rest, whom your self-torturing Cannot restore […]...
- Dream Song 106: 28 July 28 July Calmly, while sat up friendlies & made noise Delight fuller than he can ready sing Or studiously say, On hearing that the year had swung to pause And culminated in an abundant thing, Came his Lady’s birthday. Dogs fill daylight, doing each other ill: My own in love was lugged so many blocks […]...