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 Ginsberg Marathon
The 2012 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Marathon was a remarkable affair that set a new record for duration: 13.5 hours. BIG THANKS to Mickey O'Connor, Band of Poets, Greg Bem and his EVIL BEMPIRE featuring...
63. Her Birthday, My Velocity
Good Haibun/Bad Haibun
I prepared this handout for the May 1 SPLAB Living Room and it is the second such piece I have written about haibun. As you may know, one of my current writing projects is Haibun de la Serna. This...
Five Alarms (Greenwood Summer Lit Crawl)
Sound the alarm! Five Alarms is bringing 14 of the hottest acts in Seattle literature to the burgeoning scene in Greenwood! Come crawl the streets of this North Seattle jewel of a neighborhood that...
Volunteer Poetry Teachers Needed for the King County Jail
This from Michael Hood: The Programs Department at King County Jail is looking for 2 committed volunteers of either gender to teach a weekly creative writing class for men. This is one of the...
Paul Nelson, Doe Bay Pig War writing residency
As you might have guessed if you've seen the photo of my daughter Rebecca and my Mom at Doe Bay when Rebecca was about 3 (1994), I have been going to Doe Bay Resort and Retreat for many years. In...
AG Marathon June 2, 2012 8PM
The Ginsberg Marathon this year happens Saturday, June 2 at SPLAB and may be SPLAB's last big event in Columbia City. Band of Poets is featured along with Mickey O'Connor. (See photos). This from...
The Latest from the Four Hoarse Men SOund POetry Troupe
Greg Bem, Jason Conger & Joe Chiveney, poets I met through SPLAB, liked my idea of doing a cover of a Four Horsemen Sound Poem. I had seen the clip from Ron Mann's documentary, Poetry in Motion...
The Cafe Review, Portland, ME, Spr. ’12
I was fortunate enough to have some poems published in the latest edition of The Cafe Review out of Portland, Maine. There are some other very fine poets published in this edition. See: They...
Harvest The Arts, Mother’s Day in Mt. Baker
I performed with Jim O'Halloran (flute), Greg Powers (tuba) and Michael Nicolella (guitar) yesterday on a Mother's Day program at the Mount Baker Community Clubhouse. The new Poet Laureate Kathleen...
Open Books Interviewing Workshop
I am delighted to be celebrating the release of American Prophets by way of doing interview workshops in and around Cascadia for the next few months. A workshop happens at Open Books: A Poem...
#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...
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.