A Quote from "The Life of John Berryman"

"One's ideas about poetry come from one's home and one's school, as well as from society as a whole, he [Berryman] told his audience, and such forces tended to tame poetry's awesome power. The truth was that poetry was 'too primitive and too realistic' for most Americans, who actually felt nervous before its nakedness. The best poetry made use of the basic rhythms of human life, so that it was a counterforce, a rebuke to those forces that threatened to dehumanize people. It cost everything to make a poem, which was a lot more than most people were willing to give to hear its true music." (339)

Mariani, Paul. The Life of John Berryman. New York: William Morrow & Company, 1990.

Sik [Sic] List of Bad Luck Superstitions -- Top 13

1) Breaking a mirror -- the classic tale of 7 years bad luck, buddy
2) Black cat crosses your path -- most of us have had this one happen dozens of times, which is why you should blame black cats for any bad luck in your life
3) Spilling salt -- never understood how throwing some more over your shoulder was supposed to help with this one because you're just spilling more salt when you throw it
4) Walking under a ladder -- probably not the best idea anyways, hence the superstition
5) Opening an umbrella inside a house -- probably started when someone opened a wet umbrella inside someone's house, causing the ire of the host, who also happened to be proficient at gypsy curses
6) Step on a crack, break your mother's back -- a childhood classic; who wanted to be the one kid that broke their mother's back?
7) Saying a blessing after someone sneezes -- this one is confusing because people are screwed when they're alone and they sneeze anyways, unless one is allowed to bless oneself after a sneeze
8) A bird flying into a house -- the definition of bad luck, but maybe not an omen of death as some believe
9) Seeing an owl in daylight -- a very old superstition; the book Philip K. Dick was writing when he died is called The Owl in Daylight
10) The groom seeing the wedding dress before the ceremony -- supposed to bad luck for the marriage, but this belief has lost its relevance lately
11) Hat on a bed -- don't put your hat on the bed because it is bad luck apparently; this one always makes me think of the movie Drugstore Cowboy
12) When driving through a red or yellow light, kiss your hand and touch the ceiling -- I'm a huge fan of modern myths like this, and there are a great number to do with cars; this one is particularly funny when a whole carload does it in tandem
13) The # 13

Limerick

There was a young lady named Brenda,
she was truly a great pretender.
But she did too many drugs,
then forgot who she was,
and now she thinks she's a blender.