BJZ Poems and Musings
Original poems and essays from Brian J. Zink
Category: Uncategorized
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For some reason, maybe my thinner frame, maybe because wind is disorderly, and I am somewhat of a neat freak, but I really dislike wind. I wouldn’t last long in North Dakota, or on a windy seashore in Maine. Sailing never called to me. Or hang gliding, or kite surfing. So when we were hoping…
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This blog entry is a poem written during my third year of medical school, 1982-83. The context is that I was doing my Surgery rotation which included a good amount of time in the operating room, sometimes even assisting on cases. I was fascinated by anatomy from an early age and was finally getting to…
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Those of us in the more northern latitudes do endure a winter that can seem long with a March and even early April that are bipolar when it comes to weather, but then…spring. Like a time-lapse photograph, we see day by day, the flora leafing out, blooms arising, temperatures slowly climbing. It is one of…
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The poem in this post might be considered political, although I don’t consider myself a highly political person. I might be classified as a progressive, moderate, conservative liberal. It depends on the issue at hand. One thing that should supersede politics is human character – empathy, compassion, integrity, honesty, courage. The subject of my poem…
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I’m no poetry scholar, but have observed how rhyme, once a common and integral part of the work of many poets, fell out of favor, with free verse and other forms of flow and structure becoming more prominent and praised in recent decades. I have always been a big fan of rhyming poems – whether…
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Photo: Stokely Creek, Gulais River, Ontario. February 2026. As I entered my post-“real work” phase of life two years ago one promise that I have made into a daily habit is to do morning yoga. I learned yoga from my brother Craig years ago, and reinforced by my wife, I came to appreciate the benefits…
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One of the things I learned in my 36 years practicing as an emergency physician was that caring has to occur in a judgement free zone. If it doesn’t there is the risk of becoming callous and less able to connect with people in their time of need. One of the benefits of aging and…
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You are never quite sure as you slip the ring on your partner’s finger how it is all going to turn out. Forty-one plus years into our adventure, Dana and I can reflect on all the phases of a special journey. As grandparents we see the joy that our kids and their spouses have when…
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I love winter, and unlike some northerners who choose to spend more time in southern climes in the colder months, we like to head north and chase the snow. One of the things that snow reveals is the activity of the animal world, much of it that happens when we are asleep. The tracks of…
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I was born and lived until age 18 in Western New York, along the Pennsylvania border, where the ridges and foothills of the Allegheny Mountains run together like shoulders in a crowd. Our little hamlet was called Vandalia. The Nine Mile Creek wound down our valley to the Allegheny River, and the fields, hills, forests,…
BJZ Poems and Musings 