say in the flattest part of North Dakota
on a starless moonless night
no breath of wind
a man could light a candle
then walk away
every now and then
he could turn and see
the candle burning
seventeen miles later
provided conditions remained ideal
he could still see the flame
somewhere between the seventeenth and eighteenth mile
he would lose the light
if he were walking backwards
he would know the exact moment
when he lost the flame
he could step forward and find it again
back and forth
dark to light light to dark
what’s the place where the light disappears?
where the light reappears?
don’t tell me about photons
and eyeballs
reflection and refraction
don’t tell me about one hundred and eighty-six thousand
miles per second and the theory of relativity
all I know is that place
where the light appears and disappears
that’s the place where we live
—Previously reprinted in Russian Globe online (No. 12, December
2005)
—First published in
Under
Ideal Conditions (Laterthanever Press, 1994), the collection by
Zolynas which won The San Diego Book Award for Best Poetry in 1994; poem is
republished here by author’s permission.
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?
—Previously published in Russian Globe online (No. 12, December 2005);
republished here by author’s permission
was born in Austria of Lithuanian parents in 1945. After growing up in Sydney,
Australia, he lived in Salt Lake City, and in Marshall and St. Paul, Minnesota.
He has a BA from the University of Illinois and an MA and PhD in literature and
creative writing from the University of Utah. At various times, he has been a poetry
editor, resident poet in the schools, Minnesota Out Loud Traveling Poet, volunteer
for the Hunger Project, and Fulbright-Hays Fellow to India. Retired from teaching
since 2010, he now has emeritus status from Alliant International University, San
Diego.
Work by Zolynas has been widely published in journals and anthologies; and his books
include The New Physics (Wesleyan University Press, 1979); Under Ideal
Conditions (Laterthanever Press, 1994; San Diego Book Award, Best Poetry,
1994); and The Same Air (Intercultural Studies Forum, 1997). With Fred
Moramarco, he is co-editor of Men of Our Time: An Anthology of Male Poetry in
Contemporary America (University of Georgia Press, May 1992) and The Poetry
of Men’s Lives: An International Anthology (University of Georgia Press, 2004),
which won the San Diego Book Award for Best Poetry Anthology in 2005.
His works have been translated into Lithuanian, Spanish, Ukrainian, and Polish,
the last by Czeslaw Milosz. He recently completed translating (from Lithuanian)
the memoir, The Parallels of Dita: Surviving Nazism and Communism in Lithuania,
by Silvija Lomsargytė-Pukienė and is seeking a publisher for the book.
Zolynas practices and teaches Zen meditation in Escondido, California where he lives
with his wife and two cats.