Dear Sandy, Hello: Letters from Ted to Sandy Berrigan

by Ted Berrigan, Sandy Berrigan (Preface), Ron Padgett (Introduction)

Ted and Sandy Berrigan’s honeymoon ended when her father, a well-connected doctor, forced Sandy into a mental hospital, had Ted run out of town by the sheriff, and hired private detectives to investigate his friends. These intimate, irresistible letters, written over the course of their three-month separation, read like a passionate, epistolary novel—full of longing, intrigue, and gossip. They also offer serious advice for developing readers and writers, bring the thriving cultural scene in mid-twentieth-century New York to life, and serve as a day-by-day chronicle of Ted Berrigan’s developing voice. In addition to the letters, this collection contains never-before-published reproductions from A Book of Poetry for Sandy, featuring Berrigan’s cutouts, drawings, photographs of fellow poets and artists, and excerpts from poems that eventually became The Sonnets.

Genres: Poetry

368 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2010

About the author

Berrigan was born in Providence, Rhode Island, on November 15, 1934. After high school, he spent a year at Providence College before joining the U.S. Army. After three years in the Army, he finished his college studies at the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma, where he received a BA in English in 1959 and fell just short of the requirements for a M.A. in 1962. Berrigan was married to Sandy Berrigan, also a poet, and they had two children, David Berrigan and Kate Berrigan. He and his second wife, the poet Alice Notley, were active in the poetry scene in Chicago for several years, then moved to New York City, where he edited various magazines and books.

A prominent figure in the second generation of the New York School of Poets, Berrigan was peer to Jim Carroll, Anselm Hollo, Alice Notley, Ron Padgett, Anne Waldman, Bernadette Mayer, and Lewis Warsh. He collaborated with Padgett and Joe Brainard on Bean Spasms, a work significant in its rejection of traditional concepts of ownership. Though Berrigan, Padgett, and Brainard all wrote individual poems for the book, and collaborated on many others, no authors were listed for individual poems.

The poet Frank O'Hara called Berrigan's most significant publication, The Sonnets, "a fact of modern poetry." A telling reflection on the era that produced it, The Sonnets beautifully weaves together traditional elements of the Shakespearean sonnet form with the disjunctive structure and cadence of T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land and Berrigan's own literary innovations and personal experiences.

Berrigan died on July 4, 1983 at the age of 49. The cause of death was cirrhosis of the liver brought on by hepatitis.

Reviews

[Gee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have you ever been in a long-distance relationship? Do you feel like perishing today?

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew nothing of Ted Berrigan or of this history going into this book. When I understood the setting, I feared the letters might become repetitive. I was wrong, it remained gripping throughout. He has created a very interesting picture of like in the early 60's apart from what one sees in the media. An absolutely first-rate book. This ought to be required reading for anyone who bemoans 'the good old days.' I cannot say enough about what a background this book depicts for the societal changes the mid to late 60's brought about.

[Fred Whitlock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fans of Ted Berrigan's poetry will enjoy reading his free form letters to his then wife. Sandy was placed in a mental hospital just weeks after their marriage.

[cat · Rating 3 out of 5]

2011 Book 42/100

Rather than a review of this book of letters from poet Ted Berrigan to his (very young) wife Sandy while she was locked in a mental hospital by her parents who disapproved of their one-week courtship and marriage, I give you one of my favorite Ted Berrigan poems.

10 THINGS I DO EVERY DAY
by Ted Berrigan

-------------------------------------------------
wake up
smoke pot
see the cat
love my wife
think of Frank

eat lunch
make noises
sing songs
go out
dig the streets

go home for dinner
read the Post
make pee-pee
two kids
grin

read books
see my friends
get pissed-off
have a Pepsi
disappear


http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/berrig...

[Mary]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/13855718