For three years now since Sept 2022, I have written a day-long poem in a ritual that I’ve come to call the DaySong. There is much information about my history with this project here: https://paulenelson.com/daysong/ I tend to write two a year, one around Labor Day and one around Imbolc.

As often happens, happy surprises come up and find their way into the poem during such a ritual. Since you set your sensorium for OPEN on such occasions, I’ve found the rewards for that intention are large. That poetry could be seen as “singing bullets connecting in the ear” as Joanne Kyger said in an interview with John Thorpe for Convivio is one such phrase I must have overlooked until August 31. In that Convivio interview she also said Lew Welch told her “Buddhism teaches you to hone the mind… and that a more open mind can bring out a little more space, a little more wonder, more congratulations, which is something I would like to do.”

I first read about the “soft secession” concept in a Substack post from August 18, 2025, written by Chris Armitage.  An excerpt:

Not the violent rupture of 1861, but something else entirely. Blue states building parallel systems, withholding cooperation, and creating facts on the ground that render federal authority meaningless within their borders.

As a bioregionalist I must say that certain people saw this coming, Peter Berg, the founder of the Planet Drum Foundation among them, though Cascadia is a cultural movement, not one that advocates secession, no matter how good that sounds with the current gangsters that hold power.

I drew the Rune Algiz today, which is said by “Rune Nerd” Tyriel Hrafn-Skald as “the protective teaching force of the divine, symbolizing the Higher Self and divine connection. It is the energy of a spiritual guardian that offers guidance and protection through constant vigilance and clear-headed awareness.” I should be so lucky as to write blog posts and book introductions on days where that energy is present in my life. You’ll have to wait for the book for the introduction, but I am grateful for your interest in my work.

This daysong is one of seven I have written, and one of four not yet published. Greg Bem’s Carbonation Press has agreed to publish this and I hope it will be in time for Spring 2026. Below it is presented in video and audio formats and the playlist I made for the summer is also linked. I will read from this new poem at the Ballard Library, Thursday, September 11, 2025 at 6pm for the It’s About Time writing series.