Paul E Nelson presenting at Cascadia Poetry Festival 8, photo by Leszek Chudzinski
“Paul formally received the Mahayana precepts of Zen Buddhism in 2023, becoming a lay practitioner within the tradition, but I believe he had long lived in accord with them. His poetry, in its sensitivity, its humility, and its deep listening, embodies practice-realization — the understanding that practice and awakening are not separate. His writing was his zazen. This collection, FLEXIBLE MIND, is more than a book. It is a continuation of that practice. A testament to a man who lives by attention, who bows to language but does not cling to it, who seeks what lays beyond words by walking straight into them.”– Kosho Itagaki, Soto Zen Priest
402. to Lew Humiston, Auburn, WA – Star Spark (The Origin of Ra?)
...
401 to Raul Sanchez – Tackling Crackers
400. to Vanessa Herman, Victoria, BC – Born Again Delta
399. to Kitty Jospé, Pittsford, NY – Dark Horse
(Last quote from Jose Lezama...
398. to Karen Lee Lewis, East Amherst, NY – Dream Seeds
397. to Tony Iovino, Rockville Centre, NY – Ghost Prod
5th in this year's series, #397 overall (damn!) this one (like the others so far this year) vamps off Nate Mackey and goes into Runic lore. I have been using Diana L. Paxon's book Taking Up The...
396. to Dheepikaa Balasubramanian, Chennai, India – Indigent Petition
https://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/07/10/v-rmobi/155668/midwest-drought-may-spark-food.html https://seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2018823898_apuswidedroughtusda.html
395. to Maggie Kelly, Tacoma, WA – Lichen of Light Green (August Poetry Postcard Fest)
394. to Ben Cook, Edgewood, WA – Listenings
393. Blown Up (2012 August Poetry Postcard Fest)
I am writing this post on July 27, 2012, after composing and documenting the first three poems I am sending in the 2012 August Poetry Postcard Fest. This was a project I conceived of and co-created...
#SPLAB@25
The non-profit organization I founded on December 14, 1993 turns 25 tomorrow and we are going to celebrate. SPLAB started as It Plays in Peoria Productions and had a mission of creating radio...
One Mind (Impersonal)
The launch of AmericanProphets, my book of transcribed interviews mostly taken from the years of the syndicated radio show I hosted and produced between 1993 and 2004, has been not only a cathartic...
Unconventional Nelson
10.20.2018 - I told the UPS clerk my Mom’s first name was unconventional. #AmericanSentences When Bhakti and I were in Chicago last September, my Ma, Lesbia Nelson, was having lower back pain and so...
The interview I conducted with Sam O’Hana, a Ph.D. student at CUNY, is immensely critical and immensely validating for the work we do at the Cascadia Poetics Lab. At its core, the discussion is about whether writing is for people of means, or if it can be people who have skill and something to say. It means the literary gatekeepers have failed us and have a role in perpetuating neoliberalism in North America which has paved the way for authoritarianism. The interview is available as a podcast here and as a YouTube video here. Below, I have pasted in the transcript and here is my introduction to Sam O’Hana and his topic.