Pharmacy Psalms and Half-Life Hymns-for Nothing

Armed with wisdom from multifaceted careers as esteemed poet, journalist, writer, chemical dependency counselor, and Kundalini yoga teacher, Nelson Gary went underground to write The Goddessey; or, The Consumer Book of the Dead series. Now, Nelson Gary resurfaces, drawing from profound crises and spiritual experiences, fusing all of his aforementioned vocations to craft a poetic tome masterpiece, Pharmacy Psalms and Half-Life Hymns-for Nothing. He elegizes his mother and father-in-law while lamenting the 17 friends and "fellow strugglers" as well as his grandmother who all died in a brief timespan, prompting extreme grief. While elegizing Todd Moore, an Outlaw Poetry icon, he also offers deeper understanding of this literary movement. This book also includes his experimental elegies for Miles Davis and Joan Didion, two people whom he did not know personally but whose work he loves. Honing his skills to a level of innovation, Gary confronts the "ultimate concerns" addressed by existential psychiatrist Irvin D. Yalom and creates a compelling and original poetry volume that ushers us into a future of better understanding fundamental human needs. Gary reflects on a life filled with loss and overcomes grief, leading up to earning a Master of Arts degree in Forensic Psychology.

Nelson Gary's Bio

Nelson Gary's works include XXX (Dance of the Iguana Press), Cinema (Sacred Beverage Press), A Wonderful Life in Our Lives: Sketches of a Honeymoon in Mexico (Low Profile Press), Twin Volumes (Ethelrod Press), and Pharmacy Psalms and Half-Life Hymns-for Nothing (Mystic Boxing Commission). He is an award-winning poet and essayist as well as a 2023 Pushcart Prize nominee (poetry). His work has been translated into Spanish and published internationally in numerous journals, magazines, anthologies, and newspapers, including The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry (Thunder's Mouth Press), Sequoyah Cherokee River Journal, Cooch Behar Anthology, BlazeVOX, Americans and Others: International Poetry Anthology, El Observador, Los Angeles Times, and Desert Sun. Nelson Gary has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from California State University at Northridge and a Master of Arts degree in Forensic Psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology.