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
Paul Nelson Interviewed by Steve Barker
My gratitude for Steve Barker for taking time to look over my websites and conduct an intelligent interview about my poetry, about SPLAB and some interviews that I have conducted over the years....
More 2012 American Sentences
OK, more harvesting done today and some news. Pablo Baler in his fascinating project The Next Thing: art in the 21st Century has a great end note to the word Greguería. It reads: 1. Greguería is...
Igniting the Galaxies: Cascadian Ecopoetry
Igniting the Galaxies: Cascadian Ecopoetry (A review of Igniting the Green Fuse: Four Canadian Women Poets) (download as a pdf) One of the great delights in organizing the recent Cascadia Poetry...
Intro to Reissue of McClure’s Specks
It was on my 50th birthday that I received an email from Garry Thomas Morse of Talon Books in Vancouver asking if I would be interested in writing the introduction to a reissue of Michael McClure's...
Before Pigs
The opening poem from my current project: Pig War: & Other Songs of Cascadia. Text, with linebreaks fouled up by Wordpress, is here: https://paulenelson.com/pig-war/before-pigs/
53. Nothing Death
53. Nothing Death A kiss is nothing in brackets. – Ramón Gomez de la Serna A poem’s nothing on paper. A stellar jay’s a punk in a western vista. Any death’s an opportunity. One wd sing his pop a...
61. Meat Again
Nothing forgets us more quickly than a barstool. Ramon Gomez de la Serna the sheer terror of being forced into incarnation in accordance with one’s will one’s agreement with the single intelligence....
Puget SOUND Poetry
Nico Vassilakis is curating a night of Puget Sound Poetry, Friday, March 23, 2012 7-9P at Vermillion, 1508 11th Av, as a prelude to the Cascadia Poetry Festival. Including: Cristin Miller Molly Mac...
Ella Roque Nelson, a quarter-Cuban, part-Irish St. Paddy’s Day Baby
When Meredith and I learned that the baby she was carrying was a girl, she started suggesting first names. She would say a name and I would react immediately as to whether I would like it or not,...
Final Cascadia Poetry Festival Preparation
Here are a few highlights, with links, to events of the Cascadia Poetry Festival. Please be aware that Gold Passes are now extremely limited and they may be sold out by March 24th. Guarantee a spot...
Six Postcards
Bhakti and I got back from an overnight sojourn to THE MULTIVERSE on San Juan Island yesterday. We went to the community/arts spot Ian, Jennifer and Gavia Boyden have created to showcase art and...
Kozer on Seriality
In the car we listen to music almost exclusively on the old Ipod, which has remnants of the previous user's musical tastes. (Thanks Rebecca!) Were it to be passed down again, and were the new owner...
Wanda Coleman (Soap Opera Writing and Editor’s Mind)
Thinking of spontaneous composition during the 12th August POetry POstcard Fest while editing a Wanda Coleman interview from Fall 2000. She was one of our favorite visitors to the NW SPokenword LAB,...
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.