Here's the last piece I wanted to post from the Dream Songs. The British spelling in the fifth and the seventh lines are Berryman's (and not typos on my part):
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Dream Song 368
By John Berryman
At a gallop through his gates came monsters, buoyant
& credible & wild---his people fled
anguisht before them.
Soon the great city was all monsters, high-bred
& parti-coloured, comfy, digging in
like a really bad dream.
New rules were promulgated at the City Centre.
Those with more eyes, cast ruthlessly aside,
lurked to the suburbs.
The airport was closed down. Animals were untied.
Thought of his kind ground & lurched to a halt,
all nouns became verbs.
Was all this the result of a failure of love,
he hailed a passing stranger, a young girl
with several legs.
He heard her shout, remote, 'You is a swirl
of ending dust, Your Majesty ...' Since when,
he's hunkered down & begs.
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