The following poem is by my friend Jackson Melnick from his recent poetry collection, “I Can Only Pray.”  Jackson has been walking a Green Man/Poet/Warrior Path with me for four years.  He is now 19 years old, and will be setting off at the end of January for a 5 month, world-wide Walkabout, beginning in Israel and concluding with studies in Barcellona.  He is currently at work on his first novel, which will include adventures from his travels.  I look forward to “Green Man Abroad,” his short dispatches with observations from points on the Path which guides him.  Look for these on this website soon.  Blessings to you Jackson until you walk through my garden gate once again!  (You can order Jackson’s poetry collection or follow Jackson’s travels on his personal blog at  http://jacksonmelnick.blogspot.com/ 

Poems

For You, In Gratitude
Newborn Poems
Poetry for Lughnasa
Le Petit Mort
Here's What You Need to Do
Home Studies
Winter Solstice
December Sauna
Into the Air  

I will die on a dog sled
Headed to the ancients of the North Pole
The generous reunion of Spirit
Sewn into my blankets
Calm and mighty

A Sami woman
Flies beside me

Yoiking*
Into the airShe tells my story
Across the tundra
All of my dreamtimes
All of my days
Every subtlety
I mused with
All the poetry-scapes
I inhabited

All the simple human moments
Of love and contentment

The tiny bells on my cloak sound
Earth is getting wider

(*Yoiking is the traditional and personally improvised Spirit-Song of the Sami, the indigenous First People who live at the top of the world above Scandinavia.  As they herd reindeer over 100’s of miles of frozen tundra they often are filled with a sudden inspiration and yoik plaintive and haunting songs of the Nature Spirits who guide them.  These strange melodies carry and can be heard for miles across the flat frozen lands.)