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
2012 August Poetry Postcard Fest Afterword
I put my last two postcards from this year’s August Poetry Postcard fest in the mail today and, with the baby resting, have a few minutes to share my thoughts about how the fest went as is my wont...
The Four Hoarse Men
This past weekend was my first visit to Smoke Farm in Arlington, WA for the annual Lo-Fi Arts Festival. The farm was purchased in 1993 by the Rubicon Foundation which operates it as an arts and...
The Return of the Four Hoarse Men
The Four Hoarse Men will perform at Smoke Farm this weekend: 12731 Smokes Road, Arlington, Washington 98223 $40 General Admission / $20 Bike Ticket The Lo-Fi Arts Festival, Farm Time 2012, brings...
peN w/ the Jim O’Halloran Band
Paul Nelson reads a poem w/ the Jim O'Halloran Quintet Live at Bradner Gardens 1730 Bradner Place South Seattle, Washington 98144 Sat. August 18 6:30-8:30 PM Jim O’Halloran, Flute With Ben...
Review of Loving: Truths About Sex No One Told You
Review of Loving: Truths About Sex No One Told You by Emmanuel Williams We live in a very secular and materialist culture. I’m not sure if it was Nietzsche’s proclaiming that God is dead, or the...
George Bowering on George Stanley, Baseball Fan
While I was in Vancouver for the Subud Zones Conference, I interviewed George Stanley about his Vancouver: A Poem and After Desire. But I was also able to get a few minutes of George Bowering's time...
More 2012 American Sentences
So here is my state: I wanted to harvest my latest American Sentences (April 29 - July 5, 2012) about two weeks ago and could not, for the life of me, find my old pocket journal. ARGH! I had this...
Cascadia Basics by David McCloskey
David McCloskey sent me a link to a recent interview he did with KLCC at the Oregon County Fair: Thanks, Paul, for your heartfelt reply.... I forgot to include the good news:...
33. No Cigars for Potato (from Haibun de la Serna)
Video of Coyote Guts
Greg Bem not only helped organize the uber-successful Five Alarms Lit Crawl on Friday, July 13, 2012, he performed, emceed and took video. Here is video of your humble narrator reading Coyote Guts,...
Feast on TISH & Cascadia
There is a great review of two door-stopping books of poetry in the new BC Booklook. The subjects are Daphne Marlatt and Fred Wah, two members of the legendary TISH group in Vancouver, BC, in the...
American Prophets Pre-Sales
SPLAB turns 25 on December 14, 2018, and we'll be celebrating in the town where SPLAB was founded, Auburn, Washington, the former Slaughter. I am asking readers of this blog and supporters of...
Tim McNulty Interview (Olympic National Park Natural History)
Interview with Tim McNulty on Olympic National Park: A Natural History 4th Edition. Recorded Sunday, October 28, 2018, at the home of Tim & Mary McNulty, Lost Mountain, WA There is something...
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.