92,000 Visits and Three Pseudonyms

 I'm happy to announce that visits to this blog now number more than 92,000. I thank you all for your support of my writing and photography.

In the nearly four years of its existence, the blog has evolved considerably. In the beginning it was all original poetry, which I supplemented in time with my own photographic illustrations. Eventually I added my translations of the Kashmiri poet Lalla, as well as excerpts from the Devi Mahatmyam and other works of Hindu religious literature. In time I incorporated translations of some of the Psalms, as well as prose articles concerned with various subjects related to the Old and New Testaments, including the Synoptic Problem, and the process of translation itself. Along the way, I somehow found time for creation of the Udugi language, a dictionary for it, and both original writings and translations in the language.

Somewhere in the mix, I wrote a multipart Journal of a Naked Poet, giving salient events from various periods of my life. I can see now that I shall very likely have to add a few new chapters to it.

One of the purposes of the blog is to reflect my own interior changes and beliefs, and to develop exterior expressions of the same. This is an exciting process, and you will find it reflected in my poem series Upanishad, currently extending to nine parts. I have a feeling that there will be more.

I have applied several names and variations of names to these various categories of my work. I wrote the general poetry of the earlier period as Donald C. Traxler, my legal name. In late 2017, partly to honor my late friend Reb Yakov Leib HaKohain (YaLHaK, the poet L. G. Corey) and partly to honor the family of my paternal grandmother, Judith Jacobson, I began using Donald Jacobson Traxler for all poetic work outside the Hindu tradition. I shall continue to do so.

For works in the Hindu tradition, I formerly used Nagna Devidas, but because of the evolution of my spiritual experiences and views, which are now non-theistic, I am now using Nagna Chidaananda. Both of these last reflect the fact that I live my life unclothed, at least so far as possible.

That last fact is also the reason why I'm using a new self-portrait, which you will see below, as my on-line profile picture.

I would like to thank you all, once again, for your continued interest and enthusiasm.

Text and image Copyright © 2020 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler aka Nagna Chidaananda.