Lucien Zell

Prague, Czech Republic

Born (with a birth defect, a missing right hand) in Los Angeles, raised in Seattle, Lucien Zell lives in Prague. His writing has appeared in New Orleans Review, Poetry Salzburg Review, and Tikkun. His latest poetry book, Tiny Kites, was published by Dos Madres in 2019. “Carnival of Shades,” a classical piece for which he composed the libretto, premiered in November 2021 at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. An alum of the Community of Writers in Lake Tahoe, California, Zell received their 2022 Galway Kinnell Fellowship. He currently hosts a bimonthly online poetry discussion group called Poetry Junkies and, in the summer of 2023, launched a literary festival in Prague called Moving Center. See two of his music videos below, or visit his YouTube channel. Zell’s latest album, Fall into Flight, is available on iTunes and Spotify.

out of a horse’s skull

a flower

gallops

             Frogpond, 34:2, 2011

moon landing—

a single white leaf

moves a dark pool

             Frogpond, 35:2, 2012

coin in the mud

sinking deeper—

heads and tails

             The Heron’s Nest, XII, 3, 2010

above the hospital

a Get Well balloon

let go

             The Heron’s Nest, XIV, 4, 2012