Poetry                     
                       

                ~ ~ Go

  As a long-time practitioner of Zen, I’ve been trained to pay attention to “what is,” what’s “just so” in this moment--our perceptions, our emotional states, our thoughts, our resistance, the ceaseless change occurring around us. In so doing, over a very long period of time, we come closer to simply appreciating the mystery that we dwell in and that we are. As a poet, I want to “record” some of that appreciation in language that is alive, interesting, and accessible. Doesn’t the best poetry point us in the direction of that mystery? And doesn’t great poetry help us to actually experience it?
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  Al Zolynas was born in Austria of Lithuanian parents in 1945. After growing up in Sydney, Australia and Chicago, he lived in Salt Lake City, and in Marshall and St.Paul, Minnesota. At various times, he has been a kitchen helper, lifeguard, worker in a felt factory, cab driver, road construction worker, poetry editor, resident poet in the schools. He teaches writing and literature at Alliant International University, San Diego, holds a PhD, and resides with his wife in Escondido, California. Poems of his have been widely published in books and translated into Lithuanian, Spanish, Ukrainian, and Polish.