Lines from this poem by John Berryman often come back to me, especially: "Do me glory, come the whole way across town." The poem foreshadows the poet's suicide, and so I have always wanted to know the history of it--was it a suicide note delivered in the form of a sonnet? Will anyone stumble on the blog with the answer?



Of course Berryman is known for his dream songs, whose form is sort of a variant, extended sonnet. I think I can easily commit this one to memory, but it scares me. Is this a poem I want in my head? I do love it, but loving it is part of the problem. It delights in its own nihilistic urge.



THE POET'S FINAL INSTRUCTIONS



Dog-tired, suisired, will now my body down

near Cedar Avenue in Minneap,

when my crime comes. I am blazing with hope.

Do me glory, come the whole way across town.



I couldn't rest from hell just anywhere,

in commonplaces. Choiring and strange my pall!

I might not lie still in the waste of St. Paul

or buy DAD's root beer; good signs I forgive.



Drop here, with honour due, my trunk and brain

among the passioning of my countrymen

unable to read, rich, proud of their tags

and proud of me. Assemble all my bags!

Bury me in a hole, and give a cheer,

near Cedar on Lake Street, where the used cars live.