The Way I See Ted Berrigan

In the poem “Red Shift,” Ted Berrigan suggests that even after becoming a poet he will not be happy without his love. He shows us through the words of… “Never leave me”…“never escape me”…“American poison”…“Alone”…and “Unhappy”.

In the First stanza, he tells us a little about what he is doing at the moment. He tells us that it is 8:08 p.m. on a February night. Some people suppress themselves by drinking alcohol or smoking, which he tells us that he is doing through the words of, “I drink some American poison liquid…” and “smoke to have some character and to lean in.” He also mentions Allen and Frank, which are two authors he looked up to.

Ted Berrigan changes his tone in the second stanza, when he starts to mention things from twenty years ago. Here he tells us about a man smoking, “…looking at the smiling attentive woman”. The man he mentions is himself when he had first talked with the woman, whom has made him depressed. He questions, “Who would have thought that I’d be here…,” meaning that he never would have thought this would happen to him.

In the third stanza, Ted Berrigan brings up another moment from the past which took place in 1961. He mentions a boy as well as a pretty nineteen-year old girl. The nineteen-year old girl is his love, while the boy is himself. This must have been their first sighting. He also mentions a painter which he, “…would never and will never leave alone…” until they both, “…vanish into the thin air…”, or die. The painter could have been the reason why his love left him. She could have had an affair with the painter, which could be the reason why he will never trust him again.

In stanza four he says some things out of depression. He mentions how the air, “…will never leave me, not for sex, nor politics, nor even for stupid permanent estrangement…”. These might have been some of the reasons why his wife left him. The words “…not for sex…” tie into the possibility of an affair with the painter. He brings up the song, “California Dreaming”, and mentions “…I won’t do that…”.

He goes back to talking about current information in the fifth stanza. Here, Ted tells us that he is fourty-three years old and questions, “When will I die?” He then states, “I will never die, I will live to be 110…”.

He then has a sixth stanza which he uses to send messages to his former love. We can prove this because he uses words such as, “you” and “your”, repetitively with most of his statements. He says that he will never go away and, “…you will never escape from me...,” which is telling his former love that she will never get away or forget about him. Through the words of, “Who lives only to nag.” he tells her that he is going to continue to nag her. He tells her that, “I came into your life to change it…,” most likely for the better and, “it did so and now nothing will ever change that…”. He probably says this to make her regret her mistake. He’s trying to make her feel bad and show her that he was just trying to make her happy when they were together.

Ted Berrigan finishes the poem by stating again that he is in an, “Alone and crowded, unhappy fate”. This shows us that he still is not and will not get over his former love. He says “I slip softly into the air...,” meaning that now he feels invisible. Berrigan feels like he is nonexistent and he feels like he has nobody left. Berrigan compares himself to a costume, meaning he feels like he is not the same person. Throughout the poem, “Red Shift,” Ted Berrigan shows us that he will not be happy without his former love.