Mark Ford: One-Off Comet (opens in new tab)

John Berryman often arrived at lectures and seminars by taxi from whichever rehab clinic was treating him, and afterwards returned there exhausted, his shirt drenched in sweat after delivering his interpretation of Don Quixote, King Lear or the Book of Job. His last poetic thoughts are of disgrace at the podium, of disciplinary action taken against him and of how, if he’s dead, he can’t be fired.