Those Winter Sundays

Author(s):

Richard M. Berlin, MD

Key Takeaways

Robert Hayden, an influential African American poet, explored race and history in his work, overcoming a tumultuous childhood to achieve academic and literary success.
Hayden was the first Black member of the University of Michigan's English department and taught at Fisk University for over 20 years.
In 1976, Hayden became the first Black American appointed as Poet Laureate of the United States, marking a significant milestone in his career.
Richard Berlin, MD, has contributed a monthly poetry column in Psychiatric Times for 27 years, reflecting on his experiences as a doctor.

"What did I know, what did I know of love’s austere and lonely offices?"

Any Good Poem

Richard Berlin, MD, shares the poem, "Those Winter Sundays," by Robert Hayden. Born in 1913, Hayden was raised in Detroit. He had a tumultuous childhood and lived, at times, with his parents and with a foster family. In 1932, he graduated from high school and, with the help of a scholarship, graduated from Detroit City College. In 1944, he went on to receive his graduate degree from the University of Michigan, where he studied with W. H. Auden.

Hayden had an interest in African American history and explored his concerns about race in his writing. He was the first Black member of the University of Michigan English department, and subsequently joined the faculty at Fisk University in Nashville, where he would remain for more than 20 years. In 1976, he became the first Black American to be appointed Poet Laureate of the United States. Hayden died in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1980 at 67 years old.

Dr Berlin has been writing a poem about his experience of being a doctor every month for the past 27 years in Psychiatric Times in a column called “Poetry of the Times.” He is instructor in psychiatry, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts. His latest book is Tender Fences.