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
Homage to Carl Sandburg (Visit to his only Chicago home)
Mer, Ella and I are staying at my sister Barb's house while in Chicago. She lives near Lawrence and Damen on the north side of town. We arrived here Tuesday night and she told us about the Carl...
412. to Patricia Smith, Byhalia, MS – Dangerous Subversives
411. to Mary Jo Pellerito, Redmond, WA – As if… (Two Blossomings)
Homage to Lorine Niedecker on Black Hawk Island and Ft. Atkinson, WI
When Meredith and I decided to make a road trip from Seattle to Minneapolis and Chicago & back, I knew that we would have to do a side trip to Fort Atkinson and Black Hawk Island, Wisconsin....
410. to Catherine Kigerl, Quilcene, WA – Divinity (Proximity)
409. to Karen Havnaer, Tacoma, WA – Catscratch Man Splatter
408. to Bridget Nutting, Vancouver, WA Mind’s Folktales
407. to Marge Merrill, Tonawanda, NY – Skin Music
406. to Patty Kinney, Olympia, WA – Cerberus/Crepuscular
405. to Catherine Rustman, East Meadow, NY – Construction
End of the World Anthology
I'm delighted to have work in a new anthology entitled The End of the World Project. It was compiled by Richard Lopez, John Bloomberg-Rissman and T.C. Marshall and is so huge that it takes two books...
Interview Workshop at Open Books
Interviewing as Inspiration, Research, and Documentation with Paul Nelson March 10 @ 10:00 am - 12:00 pm, Open Books, 2414 N. 45th, Seattle. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of SPLAB (Seattle...
2.20.2019 Peter Levitt Interview
What joy in the good fortune of getting to interview Peter Levitt at his Salt Spring Island (BC) home. To see Cusheon Lake frozen so solidly that Peter reports there were people playing hockey on...
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.