Still I Rise

Any Good Poem

Richard Berlin, MD, shares the poem "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou. Angelou, born Marguerite Johnson in St. Louis, Missouri in 1928, was a multifaceted writer, poet, and civil rights activist. She rose to prominence for her powerful autobiographical writings and for her memorable appearances as a poet and performer, leaving a lasting legacy of resilience and hope.

Angelou's life and work explored themes of identity, race, and the human experience, often through the lens of her own journey. Her most famous work, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, is a powerful autobiography that tells the story of her childhood and experiences with racism and discrimination. Beyond her writing, Angelou was also a civil rights activist, a dancer, and a singer, further solidifying her role as a significant voice of the 20th century.

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 an instructor in psychiatry, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts. His latest book is Tender Fences.