Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: John Berryman

  • John Berryman, poetry, and addiction

    Alan BleakleyPlymouth, United Kingdom “Starts again always in Henry’s ears / The little cough somewhere, an odour, a chime,” writes American poet John Berryman (1914–1972) in “Dream Song 29.”1 From a life of heavy drinking that served to mask the pain of chronic depression arose the legacy of his Dream Songs, told from the perspective…