Chris Collins

Pond Life Now

i observe pleasures pond life offers
buzzing croaking and other sounds
the wells down deep that keep bubbling
and other sights most profound

sunlight reflects off the turtles’ shells
that lay on the ponds rough edges
butterflies dance on sunflowers while
woodpeckers split bark into wedges

both sounds and sights are spectacular
smells flood the heart with a stillness
feeling the ground mush beneath my feet
make all of these gems most precious

my daily walk and their kind display
nature’s day-to-day sweet essence
allows my moments of solitude
no before no after just presence


Existence

as dusk creeps in - the last rays of light
warm my goose-bumped skin
quartering me in a quilt of benign
quietude

this quiescence flows within my bones
creating a stream of harmony that brings
me back in time to the big bang of
infinitude

it does not relieve my pain my annoyances
of daily life nor my paltry schemes of mind but
calms my internal fears which affect my
attitude

this transition connects the mighty forces
out there with the woman inside me whose
milk and blood nourished my young bones with
fortitude

in these moments I am part of the cosmic dust
part of the infinite history of being … where
milk blood and bones are transformed and death
subdued


Forsythia

your long stalks search up to the sky
as sun-yellow petals catch my eye

brightly so you hang out and bloom
before morning and long after noon

you display your self with dignity
a queen of nature’s propinquity

that draws us closer to each other
for what I eye - is you - my other

when I close my eyes you are inside
our each otherness helps me thrive


About the Author

Chris Collins grew up on Long Island, graduated SUNY, Stony Brook, B.A., Columbia University, M.A. He taught emotionally handicapped children in residential treatment and was an adjunct instructor in psychology. He did nature photography (exhibiting locally at the Woodstock Artists Association and Museum), served in local politics (elected to the Woodstock town board), and created and was CEO of a 501© (3) festival (Woodstock Comedy Festival) whose profits were donated to Family of Woodstock and survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking. His poems have been published in Arts Mid-Hudson’s shows; in an anthology: Mightier - Poets for Social Justice; in a humanist web zine: A POETRY-LOVER’S GUIDE TO THE WORLD-WIDE WEB, POST-1950; in several Hudson Valley magazines, and other publications.

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