Nest Revealed unloading the clothes dryerFebruaryabsent minded window starewhile folding underwear in the now leafless apricot treepreviously unknown to mea bird nest affixed in a branch’s Vempty of birds nowhome to a cone of snow did it once housea brood I never met?did they grow to be members of the gangthat frequents our feeders? no…

As a second year medical student I was immersed in the scientific learning required to become a physician. But, I was also conscious of how the scientific method, the myriad of facts and the new language of medicine was crowding out my creative side. I wrote this poem in 1982, partly as a protest against…

Like many in their 7th decade I have a bit of difficulty sleeping and often wake up at 2 or 3 in the morning. Not troubled, just alert and pondering life. Some recommend “cognitive shuffling” as a way to ease back into sleep. This poem describes how cognitive shuffling made me go off on a…

This poem deals with how we sense and perceive things differently as we age. The photo is of a dune leading out to Lake Michigan in the Leelanau Peninsula in early December. Senior Winter Walk these hues of winterin woods and meadowtoo subtle for the young to see;blah and boring, lacking gaiety the wrinkled eye…

Here in the upper Midwest, October is resplendent with its palette of orange, red, yellow and all combinations of these colors as our trees give their leaves back to the earth. The photo is one of our maple trees in front of our home. November is then time to clean up, mulch, and otherwise contend…

It was not uncommon in my boyhood in rural Western New York state to see barn exterior walls painted with the advertisement for Mail Pouch chewing tobacco. Our Uncle Earl’s barn was so adorned. After he died it was eventually torn down. Earl owned a number of draft horses over the years. Some of them…

Our US society is in another phase of high profile murders, assassinations, violent rhetoric, and threats of more to come. Some of us remember how the 1960’s were punctuated with episodes of political violence – JFK, MLK, RFK, and others. We are, it seems, programmed as humans to include murder as an option when conflicts…

As I get more experience in this 7th decade of life, I reflect more on memory and memories. The comfort, the scars, the beauty and the fallibility of what we recall. This poem reflects on that. And the photo above – Dana and Brian Zink, now married 41 years, from our honeymoon at Sturbridge Village,…

When I first saw Lake Michigan from the Leelanau Peninsula in the 1990’s I couldn’t believe that this mid-continental, massive fresh water lake looked like the Caribbean sea – blue-green waters, beautiful beaches, rolling waves. The dunes rise to over 300 feet in some parts of this county and host incredible forests of oaks, maples,…