On the morning of January 7, 1972, John Berryman, bearded and stoop-shouldered, trudged across the campus of the University of Minnesota in gelid Minneapolis before halting on a cement pedestrian walkway above the Mississippi River. He balanced himself on the metal rail, much as his hero Hart Crane had balanced on the stern rail of the S. S. Orizaba forty years earlier. Then, l (...)
Article
Broken Beauty
The Last Days of John Berryman
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One word should, I think, be inserted into the first sentence: "high" between "walkway" and "above." It's a hell of a drop.
Paul Mariani,
This is a powerful piece of writing, reminding us, among many other things, that there is no redemptive struggle in perfect security. It is very moving. Thank you!