Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Grim anniversary ...

... Berryman: Dream Songs to Suicide. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

John Berryman committed suicide on this date in 1972. I remember the day quite well, remember being in the sitting room of my house in Germantown and re-reading Live & Fame and in particular "He Resigns," about which Patrick Kurp has written perceptively: Gratitude and Despair.
It was easy to connect Berryman's death with his drinking, and I sensed a warning in it at the time, though my own drinking days would last another 17 years.

By an odd turn of events, today is Debbie's and my anniversary.

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