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I always kind of hoped that
humor would hit me in old age

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and it hasn't, so
I thought I'd begin

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the reading with a funny
poem by John Berryman

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to ease the pain a little.

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He has a character who appears
in all of his dream songs

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and the character's name is
Henry, and in a way represents

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Berryman himself.

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This is "Dream
Song Number Four".

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Filling her compact
and delicious body

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with chicken paprika,
she glanced at me twice.

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Fainting with interest,
I hungered back and only

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the fact of her husband
and four other people

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kept me from springing on her
or falling at her little feet

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and crying, "You are the
hottest one for years of night

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Henry's dazed eyes have enjoyed.

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Brilliance."

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I advanced upon
despairing my spumoni.

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Sir bones is stuffed.

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The world with feeding girls.

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Black hair, complexion Latin,
jeweled eyes downcast, the slob

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beside her feasts.

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What wonders is she
sitting on over there?

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The restaurant buzzes.

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She might as well be on Mars.

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Where did it all go wrong?

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There ought to be a
law against Henry.

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Mr. Bones, there he is.

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