Poet-Seer Who Suffered Comments

And I mean the root meaning of naked which is unprotected. Berryman told his wife that his nerves were worn to shreds after writing such naked poems for over 35 years, and one cold morning, passersby saw a man climb the railing of the Washington Ave. Bridge over the Mississippi River and let himself - fall. He was teaching courses in his beloved Shakespeare at the time, but that couldn't save him. He wrote a farewell letter to his wife, thanking her for her love and support - but that couldn't save him. He had won the Nat'l Book Award for his poetry - but that could not save him. He was as you write of your persona - a martyr for poetry... and us.

When I see one of your Poet-Seer poems concerning his suffering for us, that role that is thrust upon him which he also accepts (both fate and choice) , I am reminded of one of the leading American poets of the 20th century - John Berryman, who happened to spend the last decades of his life teaching at the University of Minnesota in my hometowns. He was one of the so-called CONFESSIONAL POETS, whose poems came directly out of their personal lives. Berryman had personae like your Poet-Seer and Monsignor, but he was basically a naked poet.