Category Archives: Poetry

Cool Green Flame

Cool Green Flame
May 2014
Michael Gollin

The oak tree blooms with a cool green flame,
not the orange fire of seasoned wood.
Sunlight coils inward, photons kiss chlorophyll
with energy that fuses sugar from air and water,
and busy enzymes do their duty,
conceiving leaf, growth, tree, life.

Green are the photons that are not used, wasted,
reflected back to please my eye.

I am a tree.
I, too, breathe air, drink water,
take energy, and burn (but with biothermal warmth).
I lose my leaves. My limbs break and fall.
Yet I grow taller, adding rings,
as long as I can find the light.

***

I’d Rather Be Running

I’d Rather Be Running
-Running Song
(mentioned in http://www.innovationlifelove.org/2013/04/01/running-for-life-the-running-song/)
August 2012
Music and Lyrics by Michael Gollin

C2-G-E-C DDEDC C2-G-E-C DDE-C

Life is glory
When I go running
Nature flowing
Me striding by.

Rythmic breathing
All is in motion
Legs propelling
Heart keeping time.

Trees and bunnies
Witness my rapture
With my memories
I’m never alone.

Moving forward
Along my chosen pathway
Then turning ‘round
I run home again.

Inauguration

Inauguration
Michael Gollin
January 20, 2013

For the fifty seventh time, in this moment,
we inaugurate our President.
Peaceful transfer of power, by rule of law,
no general, king, pope, nor mullah.
They say our system is the worst
except for all the others.
All it takes is an old constitution
and a quadrennial election
for two hundred twenty-eight years, without interruption,
despite war, oppression, disputes,
sweat, tears, passion, and lawsuits.

No other nation has been so bold.
A miracle? Planning? Luck?
A wonder for the world to behold.

***

Kaleidoscope

Kaleidoscope
Michael Gollin
March 2013

 

I wake with joy each morning
to a beautiful new scene,
and I take strength to face the blues —
Whatever life may bring.

But my Swiss friend sees, he told me,
when he looks up or down,
“a kaleidoscope of shit”
in different shades of brown.

A farmer, he knows well
the many hues of excrement.
Cow manure and chicken poop, sheep dung,
human waste, every stinking scent.

Of course he meant he is depressed,
hopeless, tired, and gray,
no sprig of green, no sunlit beam,
can brighten up his day.

But he called to talk with me,
and we turn bad to better.
Friends and family, though worlds apart,
can keep their shit together.
***

Spring snow

Spring Snow
Michael Gollin
March 30, 2014
***

After we endure two days of rain,
the air and ground turn white again!
Snow to end the month of March? Really?
But still, I offer you my guarantee —
something you can count on —
Spring will come! (I won’t say when.)

You can just believe me,
or stick around and wait and see.
And when new blooms have conquered snow,
I can say I told you so.

Every spring in Rochester,
my father used to say:
It always snows in April,
it sometimes snows in May.

He kept his word, with nature there,
we never proved him wrong,
and I will keep my promise, too,
that Spring will come along.

***

When You Run Out of Up

    When You Run Out of Up

March 2013
Angels Landing, Zion

When you run out of up,
you’re at the top,
nowhere to go but down.
A decision while you stop —

Back the way you came,
the known route — once rehearsed,
the same becomes different,
with vistas in reverse.

Or descend the next canyon
continuing the trail,
in search of mystery,
to find a hidden vale.

Each way has its charms.
Onward risks the great unknown.
Will I find my way?
Darkness falls, I may get left alone.

But adventure is a guide,
and my feet can reach the ground.
If I hike out and find no ride,
I’d take the long walk round.

Two paths diverge on a redrock peak,
from way up high, both ways look good.
But I can’t take them both at once.
And I can’t stay, so I must decide.

***