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
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BC Poet Jamie Reid Dead at 74
Waiting in the garden on a hot day for a friend and our bike ride, I perused Facebook only to see the news that Vancouver poet Jamie Reid had died at age 74. The news came via his wife Carol on his...
Interview with Eric Tingstad
For over 30 years Seattle guitarist Eric Tingstad has been recording and performing in Cascadia and around the world. Often with his collaborator Nancy Rumbel, with whom he was awarded a Grammy in...
After The Japanese 73-76
The latest in this series of 100 poems with references to: https://depts.washington.edu/uwbg/gardens/wpa/witt_winter.shtml https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia_Airlines_Flight_370...
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.