One wonders if his morose attitude contributed to his eventual suicide. He appears neither a bored nor boring figure in photographs.
Dream Song 14
Life, friends, is boring. We must not say so.
After all, the sky flashes, the great sea yearns,
we ourselves flash and yearn,
and moreover my mother told me as a boy
(repeatingly) "Ever to confess you're bored
means you have no
Inner Resources." I conclude now I have no
inner resources, because I am heavy bored.
Peoples bore me,
literature bores me, especially great literature,
Henry bores me, with his plights & gripes
as bad as Achilles,
who loves people and valiant art, which bores me.
And the tranquil hills, & gin, look like a drag
and somehow a dog
has taken itself & its tail considerably away
into the mountains or sea or sky, leaving
behind: me, wag.
John Berryman I on this blog
Berryman on Wikipedia
Berryman on Poets.org
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Goodness... good for him to chase away the "boredom is a disease of little minds' theory that our puritan parents espoused... he was an unquiet spirit which is exhausting and breeds ennui.
ReplyDeleteI still have a nagging suspicion that it is a disease of little minds, but like him, I'm often bored. I like your interpretation better. :)
ReplyDelete