This is one of a series of free verse poems I wrote concerning the poets that self-destructed: (Plath, Berryman, Sexton, Lowell).

John was a New England poet and teacher. He graduated from Columbia College in 1936 and then went to Cambridge University in England until 1938. He taught at a number of colleges and then joined the University of Minnesota in 1955.

He wrote a collection of poems he called Dream Songs (1964), which was published in two parts. The only character in Dream Songs is a man named Henry, who was a poet, teacher, and lover. Henry was a middle age man who had to make decisions regarding the moral horror and triviality of his 1960's modern life.

John committed suicide on January 7, 1972 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Jason Lester Atkins - November 12, 2004.