What is the boy now, who has lost his ball,
What, what is he to do?

(John Berryman (1914-1972), U.S. poet. The Ball Poem (l. 1-2). . . New Oxford Book of American Verse, The. Richard Ellmann, ed. (1976) Oxford University Press.)

But never did Henry, as he thought he did,
end anyone and hacks her body up
and hide the pieces, where they may be found.
He knows: he went over everyone, & nobody's missing.

(John Berryman (1914-1972), U.S. poet. There Sat Down Once (l. 13-16). . . Poetry in English; an Anthology. M. L. Rosenthal, general ed. (1987) Oxford University Press.)

The artist is extremely lucky who is presented with the worst possible ordeal which will not actually kill him. At that point, he's in business.

(John Berryman (1914-1972), U.S. poet. Interview in Writers at Work, Fourth Series, ed. George Plimpton (1976).)

And the tranquil hills, & gin, look like a drag

(John Berryman (1914-1972), U.S. poet. Life, friends, is boring (l. 14). . . Norton Anthology of American Literature, The, Vols. I-II. Nina Baym and others, eds. (2d ed., 1985) W. W. Norton & Company (DREAM SONGS).)

literature bores me, especially great literature,

(John Berryman (1914-1972), U.S. poet. Life, friends, is boring (l. 10). . . Norton Anthology of American Literature, The, Vols. I-II. Nina Baym and others, eds. (2d ed., 1985) W. W. Norton & Company (DREAM SONGS).)

I am everywhere,
I suffer and move, my mind and my heart move
With all that move me,

(John Berryman (1914-1972), U.S. poet. The Ball Poem (l. 22-24). . . New Oxford Book of American Verse, The. Richard Ellmann, ed. (1976) Oxford University Press.)

He is learning, well behind his desperate eyes,
The epistemology of loss,

(John Berryman (1914-1972), U.S. poet. The Ball Poem (l. 15-16). . . New Oxford Book of American Verse, The. Richard Ellmann, ed. (1976) Oxford University Press.)

Nothing very bad happen to me lately.
How you explain that??I explain that, Mr Bones,
terms o' your bafflin odd sobriety.
Sober as man can get, no girls, no telephones,
what could happen bad to Mr Bones?

(John Berryman (1914-1972), U.S. poet. Henry's Confession (l. 1-5). . . Norton Anthology of American Literature, The, Vols. I-II. Nina Baym and others, eds. (2d ed., 1985) W. W. Norton & Company (DREAM SONGS).)

I'd take off all my clothes
& cross the damp cold lawn & down the bluff
into the terrible water & walk forever
under it out toward the island.

(John Berryman (1914-1972), U.S. poet. Henry's Understanding (l. 15-18). . . New Oxford Book of American Verse, The. Richard Ellmann, ed. (1976) Oxford University Press.)

The world is gradually becoming a place
Where I do not care to be any more.

(John Berryman (1914-1972), U.S. poet. His Toy, His Dream, His Rest, no. 149 (1968). Berryman ended his life by jumping off a bridge over the Mississippi River.)