BJZ Poems and Musings
Original poems and essays from Brian J. Zink
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I remember our last “big” US anniversary – the bicentennial in 1976. I was a graduating high school senior, and we were proud to be the bicentennial class. I’ve been thinking a lot about how our nation has changed in the past 50 years. There are many advances, many positives, but also some aspects of…
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Being from Upstate New York and accustomed to the natural beauty of that region, it took me a while to embrace Michigan and all its wonders. Of course with Detroit as the center of the automotive industry, Michiganders explore the state in their vehicles, and for good reason. The variety of landscapes, terra firma and…
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When I was in medical school my shared apartment was in a complex that had many large cottonwood trees (genus Populus). Each June they would carpet the ground with their white fluffy seeds, sometimes to a depth of several inches, like the photo above from Purdue. (https://www.purdueexponent.org/campus/summers-snowflakes-cottonwood-seeds-float-through-the-air/article_e9e6e960-03c9-11ee-b088-c77acc89f191.html ) I was doing my Obstetrics and Gynecology…
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What an incredible diversity of climates, landscapes, and bodies of water we have in North America and the US. As we traverse our country we might feel a sense of amazement and appreciation of “our land”. And yet, our 250 year history is one of the progressive march westward over this land, the displacement and…
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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…
BJZ Poems and Musings 