JOHN BERRYMAN(1914-1972) I

Drank and smoked,

took drugs and then

smoked and drank;

you would have

thought it would be enough,

that heart attack,

cancer or some

other death would have

come like a cavalry regiment

over the prairie hills

of life to save

the marooned hero

fighting off the

the besiegers

of the wagon camp;

you would have

thought, yet

fate needing more

than alcohol, tobacco

and drugs he

had to go on

and seek the water

finding frozen grass

on the bank of the Mississippi.

06.11.2017