Dream Songs

Dream Songs

Dream Songs felt a little like dreaming. The awkward kind of dream you hope not to have and when you do have them, you don’t tell people about it.

Berryman talks about how he wanted it to be “hostile to every visible tendency in both American and English poetry.”

To which I say Really? The very idea of rebelling against convention seems a bit of a “visible tendency in” in American poetry.   

If one wants to rebel against the normal American poetry ones best bet might be to write traditional Shakespearian sonnets.  But, like I said, the very act of rebelling against the norm prevents you from being able to rebel against the norm. Because rebelling is the norm.

Yes. That’s right. You “rebels” are all only another kind of sheep. Or the same kind of sheep.  

Maybe if I understood why he wrote in this way I could appreciate it more. 

 “Filling her compact & delicious body—  with chicken paprika” (1130)

Hmmmm. . . . what the heck? Seriously. He’s not even comparing women to sexy food.  It’s more like a turducken. In this way it is different than other poetry, but I don’t know if I would call this an improvement.  If one is going to objectify women (which I do not agree with) than at the very least do it in a sort of complementary way.