I commend to you your & my beloved friends

the Siegelmans who in spite of their immense sophistication

seem to be & are babes in the woods.

For instance I would never commend to you Saul with his problem

Or Boyd & Maris who can look out for themselves.

No, no, Phil & Ellen,

I don’t think I ever thankt Mitzie properly

for finding me such an excellent pad in Berkeley

so bright & the Campanile

out of my window told me the time each day.

Almost my oldest friend is suddenly dead

in New York. Thanks don’t get said.

If Delmore Schwartz can all that quickly die,

O and he can, it suddenly behooves us

to pay closer attention to each other

before we all convulse & abruptly lie

for Boyd’s inspection, sorrowful & not anonymous

like distracted brothers.

Excerpted from ONLY SING by John Berryman. Edited and with an Introduction by Shane McCrae. Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Copyright © 2025 by Martha Mayou and Sara Lissick. All rights reserved.