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PAUL E NELSON

Zappa, Dead at 17

Zappa came into my life in the middle of 1997 and we estimated his birthday at April 1, 1997. He was a remarkable cat. He had to have been to live with me for almost 17 years. My oldest daughter Rebecca wanted to name him “Midnight” but we settled on...

Warning: CA Conrad Trigger Warnings

I read with some amusement poet CA Conrad’s Facebook status complaining about a request that he offer “Trigger Warnings” before he gives a poetry reading. The update: Of course smart ass that I am, I left the comment: Trigger is a horse....

Notes On Gone South

I was given a charge by Michael McClure when I started my graduate work as an independent study student in 2004. He said to not limit my search to the U.S. Taking his advice turned me on to poets like Jose Kozer, the TISH poets of Vancouver, BC and to organizing...

Into the Open: A Way Forward for Cascadia Poetry

I’m still thinking about the notion of how Seattle, with its strong commitment to reading and literacy, has never birthed an innovative movement in writing. In my last post I wrote: Seattle has been a conservative poetry town without any innovative movements...