Richard M. Berlin, MD

Walking on water might just be possible...

A faceless full moon glowing through a cloud, contorted like the tree . . .

"O Southland, sorrow home, melody beating in my bone and blood!"

Let poetry transport you on a vacation, since COVID-19 prevented summer travel.

Blade tips catch and knees kiss ice, my eyes searching for the one skater in every crowd who glides graceful as a god,

This poem contemplates the National Anthem... is it a good song?

Poet Billy Collins writes the names of friends lost to COVID-19 on the back of his grocery list.

A mother begs the court to keep her son incarcerated for fear street gangs will eat him alive.

It may feel hard to find our way during the COVID-19 pandemic. Try and reflect on the direction your life is heading in right now.

Professional sports have hobbled on during COVID-19. What memories do you have of in-person sporting events?

How do you enter the patient's space, and are you cognizant of the energy you bring with you?

He was happy in a Gettysburg field, before he turned 13. That was the year his father’s body launched its own Civil War.

Patients rely on the companionship and kindness of nurses now more than ever, and these poem selections reflect that.

Maya Angelou’s words remind us to care for and support one another.

Dr Berlin recites sentiments close to his heart.

Is a doctor a healer, a confidante, a priest or rabbi, a turner of textbook pages, or a combination of all?

Deep breaths . . . sing out loud.

The words are no less fitting now than when this piece was written at the height of the AIDS epidemic.

Wake up, arise from the fog, and face a new post-op day.

When all else fails, fly.

We come for freedom and the chance to live the American dream.

Let spring training not be a mere memory.

A million doctors on fire, three million scorched nurses beside them, burned out as the flames progress.

Grandpa Murray, rags to riches, American big shot, the man who dreamt even bigger for his first grandson when he placed a doctor’s bag in my crib . . . the proudest man at my med school graduation.

Drama for the day, the telephone rings, spring blossoms, senior year is sad, Mother Earth takes revenge, praying for Sully to land us on the Hudson . . .

Dr Berlin offers salve to the soul with a recitation of "Let Evening Come," by Jane Kenyon, and then some.

When the AIDS epidemic was at its peak, Dr Berlin wrote his own version of "Spring and All," in which he speaks directly to the original author, Wayne Carlos Williams. There are parallels to coronavirus in these works.

In this series of recitations, Dr Richard Berlin will present a poetry with special meaning for all of us, as we cope with the COVID-19 crisis. He continues the theme of praising our nursing colleagues with Dorianne Laux's poem "Nurse."

Beethoven’s baton, the genius "gone mad," deaf to criticism, his joy as he conducted, all the notes he trusted the orchestra to play . . .

A poem titled Loves by American poet Stephen Dunn inspired me to write a poem about everything I love about my work as a doctor.