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
FLEXIBLE MIND December 3, 2020
Rainier Beach Arts & Crafts Market
I am delighted to be part of the Rainier Beach Arts & Crafts Market, Saturday, December 5 from 11am to 3pm. Thanks to Ellen VanderWey, I'll be displaying books at 8735 Hamlet Ave S, a couple of...
Notes on Being Human Is an Occult Practice
I was excited to see a chapbook with such a provocative title. Magdalena Zurawski is the author and is currently Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Georgia,...
Sharon Doubiago on Diane di Prima
Diane di Prima, August 6, 1929-October 25, 2020 I first learned of Diane di Prima as an actress. She played the part of Lula in the play The Dutchman by Leroi Jones (Amiri Baraka). It remains the...
Testimonials
Such sweet testimonials are coming in from participants in the recent Poetics as Cosmology course I facilitated, Oct-Nov 2020: Paul E. Nelson's "Poetics As Cosmology" course begins in a completely...
Paul O Ingram, Rick Rouse (The World is About To Turn)
One can look at one’s Twitter feed, or watch the news to understand how dark things are right now in USAmerica, but if the old cliché is true, that it is darkest before the dawn, we’re in for a...
(Seriality (A Workshop)
(Serialty (A Workshop) four weeks, February 7-28, 2021 via Zoom. $128.50 ($94 for Canadians) (includes paypal fee) to pen@splab.org. https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/splabman In this workshop we will...
A Poet’s Obituary of Diane di Prima
Thank you Journal of the Plague Year for publishing this: My November 1999 interview with Diane di Prima: https://paulenelson.com/interviews/diane-di-prima-intervie/ Other Interviews:
Priscilla Long Interview
Priscilla Long is a Seattle-based poet, writer, editor and longtime independent teacher of writing. Her new book Holy Magic won the 2020 Sally Albiso Poetry Book Award and was published by MoonPath...
Diane di Prima R.I.P.
I met Diane di Prima when we brought her to the old SPLAB in Auburn in November 1999. I will never forget that her workshop was happening on a morning when the annual Veterans Day celebration...
Social Acceleration and the Postcard Antidote
I was fortunate to be invited to teach spontaneous poetry methods at Holden Village, which is a spiritual retreat in the North Cascades. It is a former mining town and is a 45 minute drive from the...
Another DaySong (1980)
Another DaySong (1980) By Paul E Nelson Alongside The Day Song of Casa del Colibiri, Another Day Song (1980) is a fantastic meditation throughout the day via insight and poetry. Nelson's works...
Postcards from Here, Postcards from Mapes Creek
I had no idea when Bhakti Watts and I moved to Rainier Beach in 2017 how much we would love this neighborhood, how much it would give back to us and shape our lives. And yes, we've each survived...
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.