the berryman conversation

the berryman conversation

+++++++++++++++++++

I was at the bus-stop

today reading a book.

john berrymans dream

songs.

(berryman did a flying

squirrel off a bridge in

minneapolis. there's

somethin about those

suicidal poets which

has always intrigued

me.)

and

one of the city's more

popular derelicts sat

down next to me and

asked if i had a smoke.

"yeah sure." i got a

smoke. i said, handing

him a couple.

"thanks" he said.

before asking:

"so. whatcha

readin?"

"berryman."

i replied.

"he was a

poet."

"oh. he any

good?" he

asked.

"some people

liked him, some

didn't." I said.

"its like that

with any writer.

you have your

lovers, haters,

and otherwise

indifferent types

who don't care

either way."

"wow. thats

deep." he said.

"nah. not really."

i replied.

"my dad used

to tell me that

poets were writers

with bad grammar

who were usually

unable to write

novels." he said

laughing.

"yeah?" I asked.

getting curious.

"yeah."

he muttered.

then got up

and walked away.

++++++++

after he left i started

thinking about what

he said.

writers with bad

grammar who usually

can't write a novel.

well.

I think it's more

likely that a poet

is a writer who can

speak novels in

fewer words and

simply replaces the

more traditional

paragraph with stanzas

and sometimes rhymes

for creative effect.

but im not one for

artistic debates.

you can chew up

a blue sucker and

spit on the sidewalk

and someone might

see profound art in

that.

look at jackson

pollock.

that guy literally

stood around dripping

shit on a canvas and

impressed others enough

that his works are now

worth millions.

apparently those drips

contain worlds of thought

in them and make

"profound social statements

about modern life in the

midst of class struggles

and yadda yadda yadda."

perhaps one day someone

will

look back at this narrative

ranting

and find meanings contained

within

that i never intended and

that

will be meaningful for them,

or

an entire group of "thems"

who

are influential enough to sell

others

on the idea that i had something

truly

useful to say about starving

artists.

(when i've really just

been splattering shit across

a page all these years.)

j.s.h.