About the Author
Mark Zilkoski, MD
For over forty years, one guiding principle: treat the person, not the disease.
His career has been shaped by profound moments, including the loss of a two-year-old patient and witnessing redemptive transformation within a family facing terminal cancer. These experiences deepened his understanding that suffering and healing often coexist.
In what may be the most eclectic chapter of his life, Dr. Zilkoski once retired from medicine to open a brewery, Doc Z’s Pub, for ten years before returning to clinical practice.
Dr. Zilkoski’s contemplative practice began in 1992 with centering prayer and expanded into mindfulness practice in 2014. Influenced by Buddhism and Christian contemplative traditions, he sees Zen teachings and Biblical wisdom as spiritually aligned.
God is Love.
Not doctrine.
Not preaching.
But lived presence.
He has attended silent retreats, completed a contemplative medicine fellowship, and continues to teach and mentor others in integrating mindfulness into clinical life.
Originally a math major, Dr. Zilkoski sees poetry as an equation of emotion.
The first lines of his poems often arrive suddenly. The revisions are slow and musical.
His goal remains unchanged:
to benefit mankind through presence and care.
Calculus, Arithmetic, and Other Poems on Mindfulness