JD best explains the book here:
"πͺπ― π¨π©π°π΄π΅ππΊ π°π―π¦π©π¦π’π₯, my first full-length poetry collection, includes 75 never-before-published poems that were written between 23 July 2015 and 12 January 2021, a period of exactly 2,000 days. The title of this collection comes from a phrase from ππ©π¦ πππ°πΆπ₯ π°π§ ππ―π¬π―π°πΈπͺπ―π¨, an anonymous work of Christian mysticism written in Middle English in the late 14th century. “In ghostly onehead” essentially means “in spiritual union” with the creative force of the universe. I have long felt that, as a writer, I act as a conduit through which this force flows. My work is influenced by the Beat writers, especially Jack Kerouac’s spontaneous prose technique, and the cut-up technique pioneered by William S. Burroughs. My writing is also influenced by Dada and Surrealism. Most of my poetry is created through the cutting up and collaging of my own freewriting."
Two Sample Poems:
the special time of the johnny carson
on the tonight show earth
learning in school and how is the johnny carson?
the final tree of the night and that earth word
word words
throwing salt was a plain deal kiss
the learning toy is sharpened this way
soon, cool anne
on that day there was a snow
an animal, or name something
a planet of monsters in the mud
to speak of clouds
here in the trees
this is the same thing all over the sun
this is a new pine tree
whenever it comes to something
dharma chalk
a blue jay calling for its friends
peanuts! peanuts!
never really a true green (we call it red)
they would rather have a salad
the blinking brain by itself
no one gets it
Some Blurbs:
in ghostly onehead, J. D. Nelson’s first full-length collection, takes the lyric’s temperamental ghost on a wild joyride into the riotous, incandescent dreamworld of “wooden water,” “paper sun,” and “the clown cloud car/ one scrambled/ egg mtn.” Tirelessly inventive and unquiet with their creative energies, these poems speak of language and its hidden meanings, of syntactic spins that create meanings, of orality’s emancipatory tactics. Nelson’s ever-curious mind belabors succinct inquiries that move back and forth erratically from the metaphysical “soup for the lonely world” to the physical realm where “you are spidered enough to stand with the roots of the trees.” Spirited and complex, darkly brooding but always with its good humor intact, in ghostly onehead is a memorable and brilliant debut.
—Kristine Ong Muslim, author of The Drone Outside
American experimental poet, J. D. Nelson, with voicings singular and unique, in in ghostly onehead, his first full-length collection, constructs a playful, melancholic elision. Employing purposeful, visionary poetics including cut-up techniques, he aspires to the radiant, exhibiting taut, bold clarity. A divine mix of the inward, contemplative, and hilarious, Nelson’s poems propose a new-world where “violin hats” and “skin-suits” are in evidence, a crossroads, both circuitous and carnivalesque. The book induces in the reader, a deeply wrought current of ecstasy, the almost-celestial. A synesthesia of a broken-down America, of constructed landscapes where “closing another bank account at midnight/the same meal plan for days and days” is the norm. We discover, journeying back from sacred empty places there is enough “soup for the lonely world”, while “the earth bursts/the moon of that”. One poem’s narrative asserts from “cuts on my hands from puppy teeth/I become the wolf”. In another, a voice proclaims, “I’ve won this earth/I’m wording it this way”. A bravo achievement! Get your hands on this superlative collection (a tour de force).
—Robert Frede Kenter, poet, visual artist, publisher of Ice Floe Press
—Robert Frede Kenter, poet, visual artist, publisher of Ice Floe Press
- Publisher : Post-Asemic Press (December 25, 2022)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 93 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1736614738
- ISBN-13 : 978-1736614730
- Item Weight : 5.3 ounces
- Dimensions : 6 x 0.24 x 9 inches
- Price : $12.00
in ghostly onehead can be purchased at the following links:
- Amazon Australia
- Amazon Belgium
- Amazon Brazil
- Amazon USA
- Amazon UK
- Amazon Canada
- Amazon France
- Amazon Germany
- Amazon India
- Amazon Italy
- Amazon Japan
- Amazon Mexico
- Amazon Netherlands
- Amazon Poland
- Amazon Spain
- Amazon Sweden
Here is the facebook page for in ghostly onehead
bio/graf
J. D. Nelson (b. 1971) experiments with words in his subterranean laboratory.
Since 2002, more than 2,000 of his poems have appeared internationally in more than 300 print and online publications. He is the author of ten print chapbooks and e-books of poetry, including Cinderella City (The Red Ceilings Press, 2012). in ghostly onehead is his first full-length collection. Nelson’s work is influenced by the Beat writers, especially Jack Kerouac’s spontaneous prose technique, and the cut-up technique pioneered by William S. Burroughs. His writing is also influenced by Dada and Surrealism. Most of his poetry is created through the cutting up and collaging of his own freewriting. His poem, “to mask a little bird” was nominated for Best of the Net in 2021. Visit his website, MadVerse.com, for more information and links to his published work. His haiku blog is at JDNelson.net. Nelson lives in Colorado, USA.
Links: linktr.ee/jdnelson